Which exact wc (word count) option counts only the number of bytes/characters in a file on Unix/Linux?

Introduction / Context:
The wc utility summarizes textual statistics and is commonly used in scripts and quick checks. Understanding its switches helps you retrieve only the metric you need—lines, words, or bytes/characters—without extra parsing.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• You need the size as counted by bytes/characters.
• You are operating on a regular text or binary file.
• Locale and encoding may affect the interpretation of 'character'; wc -c counts bytes.

Concept / Approach:
wc -c reports the number of bytes in the input. On many systems this corresponds to character count for single-byte encodings. Other key options include -l for lines and -w for words. There is no standard '-r' or '- 1' option; those are distractors. Using the correct flag prevents confusion and enables reliable scripting logic.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
Compare with stat -c %s file.txt (GNU) which reports size in bytes. The values should match for regular files not involving transformations like newline conversions.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• wc -w: Counts words, not bytes.
• wc -r: Not a standard option.
• wc - 1: Not valid syntax; possibly a mistaken -l (lines).
• None of the above: Incorrect because -c is the correct flag.

Common Pitfalls:
Confusing bytes with characters in multibyte encodings; for true character counts, use locale-aware tools like awk or iconv in combination with wc where appropriate.

Final Answer:
wc -c