LPIC-1 Shells, Scripting and Data Management Practice Question
Which TWO commands can be used to count the number of lines in a file named 'data.txt'?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse `wc -c` (byte count) with `wc -l` (line count), or assume `grep -c '.*'` counts all lines without realizing it may miss empty lines or behave differently across grep implementations.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
wc -l data.txt
`wc -l` specifically counts the number of newline characters in the file, which corresponds to the number of lines. Option B is correct because `awk 'END{print NR}'` processes the file line by line, and the built-in variable `NR` holds the total number of records (lines) processed when the END block is executed, thus outputting the line count.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
wc -l data.txt
Why this is correct
wc -l counts line endings.
- ✓
awk 'END{print NR}' data.txt
Why this is correct
NR holds the number of records processed.
- ✗
cat data.txt | wc -c
Why it's wrong here
wc -c counts characters.
- ✗
grep -c '.*' data.txt
Why it's wrong here
grep -c counts matching lines; '.*' matches all lines but if file empty, count is 0; not standard.
- ✗
sed -n '$=' data.txt
Why it's wrong here
sed -n '$=' prints line number of last line, not count (same if file non-empty but fails for empty).
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