On Wed, Nov 19, 2003 at 01:33:25PM -0500, Rob wrote:
> Hi, I'm trying to find out how many newline characters are in a string. I
> thought there would be a simple function for this, but I can't find it;
> Do I need to step through the string a character at a time to check this?
Here is an example of the Perl idiom that will do this for you. I had a
file with 11 newlines, which I read into a string. I then used a
regular expression to match newlines in that string and then took
advantage of Perl's list context to get the count.
perl -le'{local $/ = undef; $file = <>;} $number = () = $file =~ /\n/g;
print $number;' file
In a non-one-liner, the important bit would be declared with my
my $number = () = $file =~ /\n/g
which is equivalent to
my @array = $file =~ /\n/g;
my $number = @array;
You just save yourself having to explicitly mention the list/array.
Cheers,
Damon
--
Damon Allen Davison
http://allolex.freeshell.org/
A language is therefore a horizon, and style a vertical
dimension, which together map out for the writer a Nature,
since he does not choose either. The language functions
negatively, as the initial limit of the possible, style is a
Necessity which binds the writer's humour to his form of
expression. In the former, he finds a familiar History, in
the latter, a familiar personal past. In both cases he
deals with a Nature, that is, a familiar repertory of
gestures, a gestuary, as it were, in which the energy
expended is purely operative, serving here to enumerate,
there to transform, but never to appraise or signify a
choice.
-- Roland Barthes (1915-1980), French
semiologist. ``What Is Writing??'' Writing
Degree Zero (1953, trans. 1967).
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