number_of_characters

The function number_of_characters specifies the length of a given text in number of characters. The number_of_characters function ignores word processor instructions and correctly identifies Unicode characters. This function calculates the total number of characters of a text irrespective of the byte length.

number_of_characters ( input )

The result of this function is of type NUMBER.

The function has one parameter:

1. input , type is TEXT. This variable contains the text of which the characters will be counted.

Classified as a character are:

• Text from the model document.
• Single byte characters from a database (TEXT or C-CHAR datatypes).
• Unicode characters from a database (W-CHAR datatype).
• Some word processor instructions that represent characters, .e.g., the euro sign, curly quotes.
• Line-breaks (SHIFT-ENTER).
• Tabs.

Other word processor instructions are ignored.

Example:

@( number_of_characters( "abcdefgh" ) ) 

Result: 8.00.

Number_of_characters versus length function

The function number_of_characters operates similar to the function length; however, the result of the length function specifies the length of a given text in bytes, where the number_of_characters function gives the length of a given text in characters. This is important because when the length in bytes is calculated word processor instructions like Bold, Italic etcetera are counted whereas these are ignored by the number_of_characters function.