$numwords(<word list>)

This function serves as a replacement for the $#var notation when you want to count the words in a string not held in a variable.

This function is used to count the number of words in an arbitrary string. Normally, you could get this value with the $#var form, but that doesn't work for parameter expandos or function return values.

number of words in given string

$numwords(hello there bob)                returns 3
$numwords()                               returns 0