From: Justin Collins <collinsj@...>
Date: 2006-04-29T06:08:45+09:00
Subject: Re: Counting words

Bira wrote:
> On 4/28/06, Bira <u.alberton@gmail.com> wrote:
>> number_of_words = string.split(/\s/).length
>
> Eh, sorry. I meant to write:
>
> number_of_words = string.split(/\s+/).length
>
> The "+" is needed to cover words with more than one whitespace
> character between them.
>
> -- 
> Bira
> http://compexplicita.blogspot.com
> http://sinfoniaferida.blogspot.com
>

Just plain string.split.length will work as well, and should handle line 
breaks too:

> irb(main):001:0> "these     are     some     words".split.length
> => 4
> irb(main):002:0> "these are \n some\nwords".split.length
> => 4
> irb(main):003:0> "these are \n some\nwords".split
> => ["these", "are", "some", "words"]
> irb(main):004:0>


Hope that helps.

-Justin