diff --git a/src/text.c b/src/text.c
index d6f8589e..27248bcd 100644
--- a/src/text.c
+++ b/src/text.c
@@ -3058,11 +3058,12 @@ void do_wordlinechar_count(void)
 			words++;
 	}
 
-	/* Get the total line and character counts, as "wc -l"  and "wc -c"
-	 * do, but get the latter in multibyte characters. */
+	/* Get the number of lines, similar to what "wc -l" gives. */
+	lines = openfile->filebot->lineno - openfile->filetop->lineno +
+					((openfile->filebot->data[0] == '\0') ? 0 : 1);
+
+	/* Get the number of multibyte characters, similar to "wc -c". */
 	if (was_mark) {
-		lines = openfile->filebot->lineno - openfile->filetop->lineno + 1;
-		lines -= (openfile->filebot->data[0] == '\0') ? 1 : 0;
 		chars = get_totsize(openfile->filetop, openfile->filebot);
 
 		/* Unpartition the buffer so that it contains all the text
@@ -3070,8 +3071,6 @@ void do_wordlinechar_count(void)
 		unpartition_buffer(&filepart);
 		openfile->mark = was_mark;
 	} else {
-		lines = openfile->filebot->lineno;
-		lines -= (openfile->filebot->data[0] == '\0') ? 1 : 0;
 		chars = openfile->totsize;
 	}