results of wc as variables

by

In pure bash: (no awk)

a=($(wc file.txt))
lines=${a[0]}
words=${a[1]}
chars=${a[2]}

This works by using bash’s arrays. a=(1 2 3) creates an array with elements 1, 2 and 3. We can then access separate elements with the ${a[indice]} syntax.

Alternative: (based on gonvaled solution)

read lines words chars <<< $(wc x)

Or in sh:

a=$(wc file.txt)
lines=$(echo $a|cut -d' ' -f1)
words=$(echo $a|cut -d' ' -f2)
chars=$(echo $a|cut -d' ' -f3)

Leave a Comment