How do I count the number of words in a text file using C?

I need some help with a program that I am writing for my Systems Programming class. It is in C and I have very, very little experience with C. I need to merge three text file with the format:

word1
word2
word3
...
wordX

I am also to bring each of the words from all three files and put them into a 2D array (an array of string-arrays), then use some sort of sorting method on them.

I shouldn't need help with the sorting, but I don't know how to get the word count from each of the text files or put them into an array.

This is the function I have for counting the words in the file. It doesn't compile on gcc (probably for obvious reasons, but I don't know them). Do I even have the right idea?

int countWords(FILE f){
   int count = 0;
   char ch;
   while ((ch = fgetc(f)) != EOF){
       if (ch == '\n')
           count++;
       //return count; originally here, but shouldn't be.
   }
       return count;
}

EDIT: I supposed I could just find a way to count the lines in the program, but I'm not sure if the approach would be any different from what I am trying to do here. (I have never really been that good at working with text files.

I got it to count all of the lines in the program. I guess I'm a little rusty.

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int countWords(FILE *f){
   int count = 0;
   char ch;
   while ((ch = fgetc(f)) != EOF){
       if (ch == '\n')
           count++;
   }
   return count;
}
int main(void){

   int wordCount = 0;
   FILE *rFile = fopen("american0.txt", "r");
   wordCount += countWords(rFile);
   printf("%d", wordCount);
   return 0;
}

I kind of forgot about that the pointer thing with FILE *fileName

Solution

The type you use for a file in c is FILE*. That star is important, indicating that the type is a "pointer to FILE". It is unlikely that countWords(FILE f) is what you meant to write.

Each time you call your function, it will have a fresh count = 0, so it will always return 0 or 1. Try using static int count;, making count a global variable, or passing in the current count to the function. Your other option is to move the return count; line outside of the while loop.

You will also probably need to divide the count by two to get the number of words, using the format you posted.