Counting lines using CountFields(__,chr(13))

Getting Started
1

I need to count the number of lines in a large string. The value is stored as a global constant.

The following used to work:

lineCount = CountFields(AllQuestions,chr(13))

Now lineCount = 1, suggesting there were no chr(13)'s found. AllQuestions.len checks out, though, so I know the value is being accessed correctly.

Issue started after two things happened:

  • upgraded from Xojo2015_3.1 to Xojo2015_4.1. The project was originally written in RB2011, but compiled without a problem in Xojo2015_3.1.
  • changed one character typo in AllQuestions. I didn’t touch the line breaks.

As part of troubleshooting, I’ve tried cutting and pasting the whole text block from a plain text editor; maybe there is an encoding mismatch? I don’t think a TextInputStream would help because the string is stored in the program, not read from an external file.

2

End of Line isn’t always Chr(13). Use ReplaceLineEndings to normalize them to something you expect. Eg.,

linecount = CountFields(ReplaceLineEndings(AllQuestions, chr(13)), chr(13))
3

Bingo. What a handy function, who knew! Many thanks, @Tim Hare.