How to count number of files in a directory but not recursively

ls -F |grep -v / | wc -l

1. ls -F list all files and append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries
2. grep -v / keep all de strings that do not contain a slash
3. wc -l count lines

Try this oneliner:

find -maxdepth 1 -type f | wc -l

Try this

ls -al | grep ^[-] | wc -l

1. ls -al -- list all file with long listing format
2. grep ^[-] -- search for string which start with "-" that is symbol for denote regular file when list file with ls -al
3. wc -l -- count lines