---
name: "gc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "graphviz"
version: "16.1.0-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/gc"
---

# gc(1)

count graph components

## NAME

gc - count graph components

## SYNOPSIS

**gc** \[ **-necCaDUrsv?** \] \[  *files* \]

## DESCRIPTION

**gc** is a graph analogue to  **wc** in that it prints to standard output  the number of nodes, edges, connected components or clusters contained in the input files. It also prints a total count for all graphs if more than one graph is given.

## OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

- **-n**

  Count nodes.

- **-e**

  Count edges.

- **-c**

  Count connected components.

- **-C**

  Count clusters. By definition, a cluster is a graph or subgraph whose name begins, case insensitively, with "cluster" or who has the **cluster=true** attribute.

- **-a**

  Count all. Equivalent to **-encC**

- **-r**

  Recursively analyze subgraphs.

- **-s**

  Print no output. Only exit value is important.

- **-D**

  Only analyze directed graphs.

- **-U**

  Only analyze undirected graphs.

- **-v**

  Verbose output.

- **-?**

  Print usage information.

By default,  *gc* returns the number of nodes and edges.

## OPERANDS

The following operand is supported:

- *files*

  Names of files containing 1 or more graphs in dot format. If no *files* operand is specified, the standard input will be used.

## EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

- **0**

  Successful completion.

- **1**

  The **-U** or **-E** option was used, and a graph of the wrong type was encountered.

## AUTHOR

Emden R. Gansner \<erg@research.att.com\>

## SEE ALSO

[wc(1)](/wc/1.md), [acyclic(1)](/acyclic/1.md), [gvpr(1)](/gvpr/1.md), [gvcolor(1)](/gvcolor/1.md), [ccomps(1)](/ccomps/1.md), [sccmap(1)](/sccmap/1.md), [tred(1)](/tred/1.md), libgraph(3)