# Install cloc with Homebrew

Statistics utility to count lines of code. Version 2.10 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-04.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:cloc
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install cloc
```

  Evidence: provider-native install command

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:cloc
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 2.10
- **Source summary:** Statistics utility to count lines of code
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/AlDanial/cloc/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/AlDanial/cloc>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-04T23:36:10Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T00:40:33+00:00

## Executables

- cloc (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 2.10
## Project history and usage

cloc counts blank lines, comment lines, and physical source lines across many programming languages, with support for files, directories, archives, repositories, and diffs.

### Project history

cloc was created by Al Danial and dates to 2006, when the project was hosted on SourceForge. The official README states that cloc moved to GitHub in September 2015 after SourceForge hosting that began in August 2006.

The tool is written in Perl, is designed to be portable with few external requirements, and incorporates ideas or code from SLOCCount, Regexp::Common, Win32::Autoglob, and Algorithm::Diff. Release notes show steady additions of language recognizers, output formats, archive support, VCS/diff features, and Windows packaging improvements.

### Adoption history

cloc became a staple packaging target because it is useful in almost any source tree and easy to ship as a command-line utility. The official README documents installation through npm, apt, yum, dnf, pacman, emerge, apk, pkg, pkg_add, MacPorts, Homebrew, winget, Chocolatey, Scoop, Docker, and GitHub releases.

The batch input independently records coverage across Alpine, Homebrew, Chocolatey, Debian, Fedora, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, Scoop, Ubuntu, and Winget, matching cloc's broad cross-platform adoption.

### How it is used

Users run `cloc` on a file, directory, archive, git commit, or repository to get language-level blank/comment/code counts. It can also compare versions, read archives such as tar, zip, wheels, RPMs, and Debian packages, and emit reports in multiple formats.

Because the source version runs on Perl and the Windows executable bundles what it needs, cloc is practical for CI jobs, release audits, quick repository comparisons, and language-mix summaries.

### Why package nerds care

cloc is package-nerd significant because it is one of the standard tiny tools people install everywhere to inspect source distributions. It also tests package metadata assumptions: source archives, generated Windows binaries, shell wrappers, Perl availability, Docker images, CPAN/npm wrappers, and OS-native packages all coexist.

Its README explicitly credits maintainers for Debian, CPAN, and npm packaging, showing that cloc's distribution story is not incidental but part of its ecosystem.

### Timeline

- 2006: SourceForge hosting begins and Al Danial copyright history starts.
- 2015: Project moves from SourceForge to GitHub.
- 2021: cloc receives a Zenodo DOI badge in upstream metadata.
- 2024: Version 2.00 released with no breaking changes from 1.x.
- 2025: Version 2.06 uses GitHub Actions for release packaging and Windows executable work.
- 2026: Version 2.08 released with additional language/file-type support and packaging refinements.

### Related projects

- Related projects include David Wheeler's SLOCCount, Git, Docker, Perl packaging ecosystems, App::cloc on CPAN, the npm cloc package, and package-manager formulae for Homebrew, MacPorts, Chocolatey, Scoop, Winget, and Linux distributions.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/AlDanial/cloc#readme>
- <https://github.com/AlDanial/cloc/blob/master/Unix/NEWS>
- <https://github.com/AlDanial/cloc/releases>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/cloc.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/cloc.yml)


## Sources

- Nucleus package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation