How to count number of words from String using shell

Question

I want to count number of words from a String using Shell.

Suppose the String is:

input=\"Count from this String\"

Here the delimit

Answer 1

You don't need an external command like wc because you can do it in pure bash which is more efficient.

Convert the string into an array and then count the elements in the array:

$ input="Count from this String   "
$ words=( $input )
$ echo ${#words[@]}
4

Alternatively, use set to set positional parameters and then count them:

$ input="Count from this String   "
$ set -- $input
$ echo $#
4