Xref: utzoo comp.unix.questions:25826 comp.unix.shell:332
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!srcsip!msi-s0.msi.umn.edu!haberman
From: haberman@msi.umn.edu (Joe Habermann)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.shell
Subject: Re: Counting characters with unix utilities
Message-ID: <1990Sep28.173033.292@msi.umn.edu>
Date: 28 Sep 90 17:30:33 GMT
References: <4002@umbc3.UMBC.EDU> <939@hls0.hls.oz>
Organization: Minnesota Supercomputer Institute
Lines: 14

george@hls0.hls.oz (George Turczynski) writes:

>OK, try this:

>	awk -F'A' '{ sum+= (NF-1) } END { print sum }' file

This is close.  Doesn't seem to work when the number of matches = 0, 
though.  In that case NF = 0 and the awk will return -1.

How about:

	awk -F'A' '{ if (NF > 0) sum += (NF-1) } END { print sum }' file

Joe Habermann / haberman@msi.umn.edu