Stephen Harris wrote: > > On Wed, Oct 10, 2007 at 04:32:30PM -0300, mups.cp wrote: > > A simple one > > # echo "jerry jerry" | tr " " "\n" | grep -c jerry > > 2 > > But what about jerry.jerry or jerry/jerry or jerry,jerry or.... Well he never stated a non-standard field separator, but if that is the case, with awk: echo "jerry,jerry-jerry jerry" | awk 'BEGIN{RS="[^[:alnum:]]"} /^jerry$/ {jerry++} END{print jerry}' That'll separate records by any non-alphanumeric. (I had messed up the comparison on my first post) -Ross ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender and permanently delete the original and any copy or printout thereof.