advice on Unix commands

Unix question:

ls -la

I need the filenames at the end of the output hacked off so I can use them in  wc -lw

Any suggestions as to what sequence of commands and/or loops would work to get it that way?  I am a very basic Unix user, pls pardon my idiocy.

I don't need the actual code, just a recommendation of how to get from point A to point B.  Point A being the output of ls -la.  Point B being the input of wc -lw.

ls -1a

That's a number, not a letter.

ls -1 prints a list in 1 column, trust me it's a code that works.

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