Implement 'wc' command alternative for counting lines, words, and bytes in files

Author: Geraldine-Edwards

implement-shell-tools/wc/wc.py

@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+import argparse
+import locale
+
+
+#set locale to the machine default setting
+locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
+
+parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+    prog="wc",
+    description="An alternative to the 'wc' command",
+)
+parser.add_argument("files", nargs="+", help="The file(s) to process")
+parser.add_argument("-l", "--lines", action="store_true", help="Print the newline counts")
+parser.add_argument("-w", "--words", action="store_true", help="Print the word counts")
+parser.add_argument("-c", "--bytes", action="store_true", help="Print the byte counts")
+
+args = parser.parse_args()
+
+# when no specific flags are set
+no_flags = not (args.lines or args.words or args.bytes)
+
+totals = {"lines": 0, "words": 0, "bytes": 0}
+
+def calculate_counts(content):
+    # returns a count object
+    return {
+        "lines": content.count('\n') + (1 if content and not content.endswith('\n') else 0),
+        "words": len(content.split()),
+        "bytes": len(content.encode('utf-8')),
+    }
+
+
+def print_counts(counts, file):
+    parts = []
+    # map flag args to the keys in the count object
+    flag_arg_to_key = {
+        "lines": args.lines,
+        "words": args.words,
+        "bytes": args.bytes
+    }
+
+    PADDING = 3
+
+    for key, flag in flag_arg_to_key.items():
+        if no_flags or flag:
+            # apply padding only when no_flags is True
+            padded_output = f"{counts[key]:>{PADDING}}" if no_flags else str(counts[key])
+            parts.append(padded_output)
+    parts.append(file)
+    print(" ".join(parts))
+
+
+for file in args.files:
+    try: 
+        with open(file, "r") as f:
+            # read the content and split the lines ready to process as needed
+            content = f.read()  
+            counts = calculate_counts(content)
+        # update totals object with values from count object
+        for key in totals:
+            totals[key] += counts[key]
+        print_counts(counts, file)    
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        print(f"wc: {file}: No such file or directory found") 
+
+# Print totals if more than one file
+if len(args.files) > 1:
+    print_counts(totals, "total")