- small size tweak
diff --git a/coreutils/wc.c b/coreutils/wc.c
index 973929e..d89cb45 100644
--- a/coreutils/wc.c
+++ b/coreutils/wc.c
@@ -81,8 +81,8 @@
 	unsigned u;
 	int num_files = 0;
 	int c;
-	char status = EXIT_SUCCESS;
-	char in_word;
+	smallint status = EXIT_SUCCESS;
+	smallint in_word;
 	unsigned print_type;
 
 	print_type = getopt32(argc, argv, "lwcL");