Counting the number of dots in a string

Question

How do I count the number of dots in a string in BASH? For example

VAR=\"s454-da4_sd.fs_84-df.f-sds.a_as_d.a-565sd.dasd\"

# Variable VAR contains 5 dots
         


        

Answer 1

awk alternative:

echo "$VAR" | awk -F. '{ print NF - 1 }'

Output:

5