converting variable to numeric

if i want to add variable a and variable b (both a and b are files)
whos value is 1 . I have redirected to grep command to find a numbers of
lines of a particular file to a ( a is file) as well as to b , now i want
the total of both the files . the above command is as follows :-
grep -c smoke cigaret.txt > a 
for the above case i am counting smoke word in cigaret.txt and redirecting it 
to file a and file a shows value 1 and same for b also file b shows 
value 1 , now i want the total of both file a and b , though a and b are
variable not a numeric.
so kindly show me some command of UNIX o/s thru which i can add both variable
a and b .
My email address is kishan@bom.cmc.net.in
i will be watiting for your reply.

Thanking you.

regards.

KBK

Received on Friday, 25 January 2002 13:21:52 UTC