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WordCount["string"]

gives the total number of words in string.

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WordCount

WordCount["string"]

gives the total number of words in string.

Details

  • Character sequences in "string" that are not identified as being part of words are excluded from WordCount.

Examples

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Basic Examples  (1)

Count the number of words in a string:

Wolfram Language code: WordCount["apple orange banana"]
Wolfram Language code: WordCount["the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"]

Properties & Relations  (2)

The empty string has 0 words:

Wolfram Language code: WordCount[""]

Hyphenated words are treated as a single word:

Wolfram Language code: WordCount["The investment came from a London-based company."]

Neat Examples  (1)

Find the sentence with the most words in a book:

Wolfram Language code: alice = StringReplace[ExampleData[{"Text", "AliceInWonderland"}], ";" -> "."];
Wolfram Language code: sentences = TextSentences[alice];
Wolfram Language code: MaximalBy[sentences, WordCount, 1]

Compare to the longest sentence by string length:

Wolfram Language code: MaximalBy[sentences, StringLength, 1]
Wolfram Research (2015), WordCount, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/WordCount.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2015), WordCount, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/WordCount.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2015. "WordCount." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/WordCount.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2015). WordCount. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/WordCount.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2026_wordcount, author="Wolfram Research", title="{WordCount}", year="2015", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/WordCount.html}", note=[Accessed: 12-June-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2026_wordcount, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={WordCount}, year={2015}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/WordCount.html}, note=[Accessed: 12-June-2026]}