How to get the number of files in a folder as a variable?

Question

Using bash, how can one get the number of files in a folder, excluding directories from a shell script without the interpreter complaining?

With the help of a friend

Answer 1

The most straightforward, reliable way I can think of is using the find command to create a reliably countable output.

Counting characters output of find with wc:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -printf '.' | wc --char

or string length of the find output:

a=$(find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -printf '.')
echo ${#a}

or using find output to populate an arithmetic expression:

echo $(($(find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -printf '+1')))