Windows PowerShell Measure-Object equivalent in Linux
Counts lines, words, bytes or characters in text files and streams.
PowerShell Measure-Object
wc FILE
wc FILE
wc FILE
Overview
What this command does
On Windows, "PowerShell Measure-Object" is used to count lines, words and bytes. On Linux, the closest practical mapping shown here is "wc FILE". Counts lines, words, bytes or characters in text files and streams. This reference is grouped under PowerShell Equivalents → Text Processing.
Windows → Linux context
What changes when you use this on Linux?
Equivalent task, different tool
Windows PowerShell Measure-Object maps to wc FILE for this task. Treat this as a workflow mapping rather than a character-for-character syntax translation.
Portable across the compared distros
The Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch rows use the same command in this mapping. Package availability or defaults can still vary, so check the installed tool version when an option behaves differently.
For the broader concept behind this mapping, read PowerShell vs Bash.
Practical tasks
Common use cases
Count lines, words and bytes
Counts lines, words, bytes or characters in text files and streams.
wc file.txt
Show lines, words and bytes
wc -l file.txt
Count lines only
grep -i error app.log | wc -l
Count matching log lines
Ready to run
Copyable Linux commands
Review paths, device names, package names and permissions before running any command.
wc file.txt
wc -l file.txt
grep -i error app.log | wc -l
Walkthrough
Examples with explanations
wc file.txt # measure a text file
wc -l file.txt # count lines
grep -i error app.log | wc -l # count search resultsReference
Common options and variations
| Command or option | Use |
|---|---|
wc file.txt | Show lines, words and bytes |
wc -l file.txt | Count lines only |
grep -i error app.log | wc -l | Count matching log lines |
Distro differences
Debian/Ubuntu vs Fedora vs Arch
Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch all use "wc FILE" for this mapping. The command syntax shown here is portable across the three rows, although installed versions and system defaults can still vary.
| Distribution | Package manager / base | Equivalent command | Difference to notice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian/Ubuntu | same command | wc FILE |
Same command on this distribution. |
| Fedora | same command | wc FILE |
Same command on this distribution. |
| Arch | same command | wc FILE |
Same command on this distribution. |
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