CLOC – Count number of lines of code in file
Last Updated :
23 Aug, 2021
cloc is a command-line-based tool. It counts the blank lines, comment lines, actual code lines written in many programming languages. cloc is completely written in the Perl language, and it has no external dependencies. cloc can run on many operating systems like Linux, macOS, Windows, OpenBSD and many more.
Installation of cloc
Now let’s see how we can install the cloc on different operating systems. Use one of the following commands according to your operating system:
For Debian, Ubuntu:
sudo apt install cloc
For Red Hat, Fedora:
sudo yum install cloc
Fedora 22 or later:
sudo dnf install cloc
For Arch:
sudo pacman -S cloc
For Gentoo :
sudo emerge -av dev-util/cloc
For Alpine Linux
sudo apk add cloc
For OpenBSD
doas pkg_add cloc
For FreeBSD:
sudo pkg install cloc
For macOS with MacPorts:
sudo port install cloc
For macOS with Homebrew:
brew install cloc
For Windows with Chocolatey:
choco install cloc
For Windows with Scoop:
scoop install cloc
To install the cloc using npm use the following command:
npm install -g cloc
Now we have installed the cloc on the system. Let’s see how to use the cloc. The general syntax of using cloc is as follows
cloc [options] <FILE|DIR> ...
Now let’s see understand by one example. We have one source file written in CPP and contains the following code:
// hello.C
#include <iostream>
int main ()
{
std::cout << "hello" << std::endl; // comment 1
std::cout << "again" << std::endl; /* comment
2 */
}
Now let’s use the cloc to count the line
As we can see, the cloc has correctly counted the comments and code lines.
Using cloc on compressed file
cloc can also count the number of lines physical, commented, an empty line written in different languages in compressed files
cloc compressed_file
Let’s see one example, we have one compressed file which contains some files written in JS and markdown, Let’s use the cloc on that compressed file.
Get count of each file
To get the line of code count file-wise in folder or zip file use the –by-file option with the cloc command.
cloc --by-file folder/compressedFile
Counting lines in GitHub repository
cloc can also count the codes written in different files in the GitHub repository. Now let’s clone cloc GitHub repository. To count the number of lines in the GitHub repo the following command:
cloc commit
First, clone the repository and use the cloc.
git clone https://github.com/AlDanial/cloc
cd cloc
cloc ec44eb0
cloc provide many other options. To know more about the cloc read the man page of cloc.
man cloc
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