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Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

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Posted on 5 Jan 2024 18:52:53 by cmitchener

I feel like this has to have a really simple solution that I'm overlooking, but I just can't figure it out. I'm looking for a way to count how many times a letter occurs in a string; for example, "animal" would return "2", if I was counting the letter A.

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cmitchener on 07 Feb 2024 at 14:51:01

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

I got it:

Here's the code to copy:
CountIf(Split(TEXT_FIELD, ""), Len(Value(ThisRecord.Value)) > 0)

Here's what it does:
1. The TEXT_FIELD that you want to search for numbers is split by each character
2. Each record's value (in this case, every character) is converted into a number
a. If it's already a number, this will return the character
b. If it's any character other than a number, it will be a blank record
3. The length of each character as a value is checked. If it's a number, this will return a 1. If it was another character that is now a blank record, this will return a 0.
4. Every 1 in this list is counted, returning you the number of numbers in your text field

My explanation might be a little confusing, but if you plug in the Split code into a list box it will help it make sense.
jQuery 8 on 07 Feb 2024 at 01:34:17

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

Would you be able to solve for the number counts as well? Wondering if there is an eaiser way.
What I did was to use the total length of the string minus the number of dashes your code found.
cmitchener on 06 Feb 2024 at 17:44:35

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

Ah, I see now that I did the result backwards lol. Glad you got the answer!
jQuery 8 on 06 Feb 2024 at 17:36:02

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

Thanks for the help. I need the numbers - not the dashes - but I figured out with your help. Thanks again.
cmitchener on 06 Feb 2024 at 17:17:17

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

Something like this may work for that:
jQuery 8 on 06 Feb 2024 at 17:01:55

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

What if I wanted to just count the numbers in a text field? For example - phone number is 123-456-7890. I want the count of the numbers, not the dashes.
CNT 10,919 Super User 2025 Season 1 on 05 Jan 2024 at 19:42:37

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

@cmitchener

Glad to help!
cmitchener on 05 Jan 2024 at 19:40:14

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

I like your way better, there's less code to reference it later on. Thanks!
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CNT 10,919 Super User 2025 Season 1 on 05 Jan 2024 at 19:31:31

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

@cmitchener This code will give the result seen below,

ClearCollect(colCharacterCount, DropColumns( AddColumns( GroupBy( Split("animal", ""), "Value", "GroupedValues" ) , "Count", CountRows(GroupedValues) ), "GroupedValues" ) )

Please remember to give a 👍 and accept my solution as it will help others in the future.
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cmitchener on 05 Jan 2024 at 19:29:04

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Re: Counting Amount of Certain Character in a String

I figured a solution out, and since I haven't seen a great resource on it yet here's what I've found:

CountIf(Split(textSOURCE ""), Lower(Value) = CHARACTER_SEARCH)

Here's an example:

CountIf(Split(TextLabel1, ""), Lower(Value) = "a")