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Method

Returns the number of values (fields) in the string passed that are separated by the separator string passed. If the source string is binary data or you require case-sensitivity, use CountFieldsB instead.

Usage

result = CountFields(stringVariable, separator)

or

result = stringVariable.CountFields(separator)

Part	Type	Description
result	Integer	The number of values in source that are separated by separator.
stringVariable	String	The original string.
separator	String	The character or characters that separate the values in source.

Notes

The CountFields function is useful for reading columns of data from a text file where the columns (fields) are delimited with a specific character or characters.

If the separator is not found within source, CountFields returns 1. If source is null, CountFields returns zero.

Using CountFields in a loop to extract fields from a string is inefficient. You should use Split and Ubound for this purpose.

Sample Code

The code below returns 5.

Dim count As Integer
Dim s As String
s = "Dan*Smith*11/22/69*5125554323*Male"
count = CountFields(s, "*")
count = s.CountFields("*")

The following code returns three because it counts the null "field" after the (unnecessary) final field delimiter.

Dim count As Integer
Dim s As String
s = "Dan*Smith*"
count = CountFields(s, "*")

This code in the Open event handler populates a PopupMenu and sets the initial value to the current month:

Dim s As String
Dim i, last As Integer
Dim d As New Date
s = "January,February,March,April,May,June,July," _
+ "August,September,October,November,December"
last = CountFields(s,",")
For i = 1 To last
Me.AddRow(NthField(s, ",", i))
Next
Me.ListIndex = d.Month - 1

See Also

CountFieldsB, NthField, Split, Text.Split functions; TextInputStream class