Count function [Revelation On-Line Wiki]

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====== Count function  ======

 


 
==== Description ====
 
Counts the number of occurrences of a substring in a string.
 
==== Syntax ====
 
//instances// = **Count**(//source_string, search_string//)
 
==== Parameters ====
 
The Count function has the following parameters.

^Parameter^Description^
|//source_string//|Identifies the string to search for in //search_string//. Can be a literal string, expression, constant, or variable.|
|//search_string//|Identifies the string to search for in //source_string//. //search_string// may be a literal string, expression, constant, or variable.\\ \\ If //search_string// does not appear in //source_string//, or if //search_string// is null, a 0 (zero) will be returned.|
\\   \\ \\ The Count() and [[dcount|DCount()]] functions are usually used to determine the size of a dynamic array.  They actually have a more general purpose use, because the search string can be any string used as a delimiter, even multiple character strings.\\ \\ Note:  To count the number of values in a dynamic array, you need to account for the possibility that the array has one value, with no delimiter.  The count() function in this case will return 0 because there is no delimiter in the string.  To return the correct answer (1), you need to add the boolean expression ( var #%%''%% ), which returns 1 if the variable contains a value but 0 if it is null.  See the example below.\\ \\  Note:  If you use [[dcount|dcount()]] to count the number of values in a dynamic array, you do not need to add the boolean expression because [[dcount|dcount()]] returns the proper result (1) if the array has one value with no delimiter.|

 
==== See Also ====
 
[[dcount|dcount()]]
 
==== Example ====
 
<code>
* count the number of items in an @fm-delimited list
cnt = count(List, @fm) + (List# '')

* this is equivalent to:
declare function dcount
cnt = dcount(List, @fm)
</code>