topic Count the number of words in a string? in Discussions

Count the number of words in a string?

shahram — Sun, 30 Nov 2014 03:21:47 GMT

Can someone tell me the best function to count the number of a words in a particular string? For example, if I have a column of character data delimited by ";" or "," how do I count the number of "words" in that column, as defined by the particular delimiter? I know SAS has a function COUNTW that does this, but I can't find anything in JMP that will do it. Thanks in advance...

Re: Count the number of words in a string?

ms — Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:22:03 GMT

It takes two functions in JMP. The Words() function returns a list of the words in a string and N Items() gives the number of items in a list.

N Items( Words( s, ";,"))

Re: Count the number of words in a string?

shahram — Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:36:33 GMT

Great, thanks a lot.

Re: Count the number of words in a string?

l_yampolsky — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 22:21:02 GMT

Does the function N Items exist only in JMP Pro?

Is there a way to count words or specific symbols in a string in regular JMP?

Re: Count the number of words in a string?

txnelson — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 22:44:29 GMT

N Items() is a function that has been a part of JMP for a long time. Check in the Scripting Index of your version of JMP to make sure it is there. I assume it will be. It is an essential component of being able to deal with JMP Lists.

Here is one way to count words and to count symbols

Names Default To Here( 1 );
str1 = "This is a test of the counting of words";
str2 = "Here is* a way to* count * symbols";
Show( "Counting Words", N Items( Words( str1, " " ) ) );
Show( "Counting Symbols", N Items( Words( str2, "*" ) ) );

Re: Count the number of words in a string?

l_yampolsky — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 22:53:41 GMT

Thanks! It does not appear in the pull-down function lists. But of course when I just type "N Items(.." etc. it works.

Re: Count the number of words in a string?

txnelson — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 23:06:05 GMT

I assume the pulldown menu you are referring to is in the Formula Editor. That list is not the definative list of functions. It contains those functions that "Typically" are used in a formula calculation. The definative documentation is in the Scripting Index

Help==>Scripting Index

Re: Count the number of words in a string?

l_yampolsky — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 23:09:45 GMT

Yep, got it, thanks. Yeah, I had no idea that there are functions that are not in the function editor. Using JMP since ver 1, 1990-ies. Go figure.

Re: Count the number of words in a string?

pmroz — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 15:49:43 GMT

Minor point - your symbol count could be off by 1 if the last character is not the symbol. In Jim's example the result is 4 when there are actually only 3 symbols. Here's one way to get the correct number of symbols:

str2 = "Here is* a way to* count * symbols";
str3 = substitute(str2, "*", "");
nsymbols = length(str2) - length(str3);

I'm curious if there's an easier way to do this?

Re: Count the number of words in a string?

l_yampolsky — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 22:13:54 GMT

this method did occur to me, but it was not erfect for my goal of counting words in a string with words separated by a variety of delimiters, would have had to do this several time for each delimiter.

N Items(Words(string, " ,;|:_")) works great.