https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/counting-symbols-in-a-string/m-p/37829#M9666 try function : countc ();<BR /> <BR /> [pre]<BR /> data _null_;<BR /> freq=countc(' one, two , three ' , ',');<BR /> put 'The count number of '','' is ' freq;<BR /> run;<BR /> [/pre]<BR /> <BR /> Ksharp Sat, 19 Jun 2010 09:40:00 GMT Ksharp 2010-06-19T09:40:00Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/counting-symbols-in-a-string/m-p/37827#M9664 how to count ", " in a string?<BR /> <BR /> for example:<BR /> any function can return a number "2" when counting in the following string?<BR /> <BR /> " one, two , three"= two commas. <BR /> <BR /> Thanks a lot! Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:25:31 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/counting-symbols-in-a-string/m-p/37827#M9664 Ken_oy 2010-06-18T21:25:31Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/counting-symbols-in-a-string/m-p/37828#M9665 have you tried the count() function? Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:48:56 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/counting-symbols-in-a-string/m-p/37828#M9665 Peter_C 2010-06-19T08:48:56Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/counting-symbols-in-a-string/m-p/37829#M9666 try function : countc ();<BR /> <BR /> [pre]<BR /> data _null_;<BR /> freq=countc(' one, two , three ' , ',');<BR /> put 'The count number of '','' is ' freq;<BR /> run;<BR /> [/pre]<BR /> <BR /> Ksharp Sat, 19 Jun 2010 09:40:00 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/counting-symbols-in-a-string/m-p/37829#M9666 Ksharp 2010-06-19T09:40:00Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/counting-symbols-in-a-string/m-p/37830#M9667 Thanks, it works! Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:01:10 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/counting-symbols-in-a-string/m-p/37830#M9667 Ken_oy 2010-06-21T14:01:10Z