Date:         Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:05:57 +0300
Reply-To:     Nina Harris <sas@MAILINATOR.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Nina Harris <sas@MAILINATOR.COM>
Subject:      Re: Counting Words in a Text String
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

here's a variation

%macro nwords ( s ) ;
   ((length (compbl(left(&s))) - length (compress(left(&s))) + 1)
   * (&s ne ''))
%mend nwords ;

data _null_;
nwords = %nwords ("was used function-style as");
put _all_;run;