Number of strings contained in a text variable

[acantor]

In MEP, is there a direct way -- or even an hack! -- to count the number of times that a specific string appears in a text variable? In pseudo-code:

 

%Text% = "Abc 123 def 345 A"

 

Count("A" in %Text%) = 2

 

Count(" " in %Text%) = 4

 

Count("Abc" in %Text%) = 1

 

Count ("Hello" in %Text%) = 0

 

Or am I stuck with having to "manually" parse the text variable?

[Cory]

Copy the variable to a temp var. Get the length of the var. Get the length of the search string. Variable Modify String Replace Substring on the temp and include the option for all instances. Now get the length again. Subtract this length from the beginning length and divide by the search string length. Voila!

[kevin]

There is no direct way that I am aware of. This sample macro will do it.

 

//   Initialization
Variable Set String %SearchFor% to "Hello" // Enter the string to search for
Variable Set Bool %Done% to "False" // Initialize Done flag
Variable Modify String %sTemp%: Copy Whole Text (%Text%) // Make a copy of your original string
Variable Set Integer %Count% to 0

// Count the instances of %SearchFor% in %sTemp%
Repeat Until %Done% Equals "True"
 Variable Modify String: Replace "Hello" in %sTemp% with "" // Do not check the 'Replace All Instances' box
 Variable Modify Integer %Count%: Increment

 // See if we're done
 If Variable %sTemp% Contains "Hello"
   Variable Set Bool %Done% to "True"
 End If
End Repeat

I am curious if someone else has an easier/shorter/faster way.

[kevin]

Copy the variable to a temp var. Get the length of the var. Get the length of the search string. Variable Modify String Replace Substring on the temp and include the option for all instances. Now get the length again. Subtract this length from the beginning length and divide by the search string length. Voila!

Cool hack Cory. You posted this while I was composing my (longer) solution.

[acantor]

OK, so there is no direct way to count the number of instances of y within x. Oh, well...

 

My solution is almost identical to Cory's, although his is more versatile. (For my purpose, the string to count is only one character long, so I do not need the division step.)

 

Thanks to both of you!