texcount

Count words in LaTeX documents

TLDR

Count words

$ texcount [document.tex]

Brief output

$ texcount -brief [document.tex]

Include subcounts

$ texcount -sub [document.tex]

HTML output

$ texcount -html [document.tex]

Count multiple files

$ texcount -merge [file1.tex] [file2.tex]

Verbose output

$ texcount -v [document.tex]

SYNOPSIS

texcount [-brief] [-sub] [-html] [options] files

texcount counts words in LaTeX documents by properly parsing TeX syntax rather than counting all whitespace-separated tokens. It distinguishes between text words, header words, caption words, and mathematical formulas, providing accurate counts that exclude macro names and formatting commands.The -sub option breaks down counts by section, chapter, or other structural elements, which is useful for tracking progress on individual parts of a document. Multiple files can be processed together with -merge, and -inc follows \\input and \\include directives to count included files. Output formats include plain text, HTML, and verbose mode showing how each word was classified.

PARAMETERS

-brief

Short output.

-sub

Subcounts by section.

-html

HTML output.

-merge

Merge file counts.

-v

Verbose output.

-inc

Include input files.

CAVEATS

LaTeX specific. Custom macros may confuse. Perl required.

HISTORY

TeXcount was created to provide accurate word counts for LaTeX documents by properly parsing TeX syntax.