Simple JavaScript Word Count Function

Question

I finally started to learn JavaScript and for some reason I can't get this simple function to work. Please tell me what I am doing wrong.

function countWords(str) {
/*Complete the function body below to count
  the number of words in str. Assume str has at
  least one word, e.g. it is not empty. Do so by
  counting the number of spaces and adding 1
  to the result*/

var count = 0;
for (int 0 = 1; i <= str.length; i++) {
   if (str.charAt(i) == " ") {
        count ++;
    }
}
return count + 1;
}
console.log(countWords("I am a short sentence"));

I am getting an error SyntaxError: missing ; after for-loop initializer

Thanks for your assistance

for loop construction should be: for (var i=0;i<=str.length;i++) — Nile
– Nile, Commented May 25, 2013 at 20:45
@Nile: Actually i<str.length so that you don't loop outside the string. — Guffa
– Guffa, Commented May 25, 2013 at 20:49
Doing a loop through each char in the string will be highly inefficient I recommend you do the following str.split(' ').length — elmuchacho
– elmuchacho, Commented May 26, 2013 at 15:01

Guffa · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-25 20:47:04Z

5

There is no int keyword in Javascript, use var to declare a variable. Also, 0 can't be a variable, I'm sure that you mean to declare the variable i. Also, you should loop from 0 to length-1 for the characters in a string:

for (var i = 0; i < str.length; i++) {

answered May 25, 2013 at 20:47

Guffa

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1 Comment

Val Okafor Over a year ago

perfect, that was it. Thanks for getting me unstuck in my Journey to learn JS

Sachin · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-25 20:54:59Z

4

I think you want to write this

for (var i = 0; i <= str.length; i++)

instead of this

for (int 0 = 1; i <= str.length; i++)

So the problems are there is nothing like int in javascript and also you are using 0=1 that doesn't make any sense. Just use variable i with var keyword.

edited May 25, 2013 at 20:54

answered May 25, 2013 at 20:46

Sachin

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Comments

Anish Gupta · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-25 20:47:55Z

2

This

for (int 0 = 1; i <= str.length; i++)

should be

for (var i = 1; i <= str.length; i++)

There is no keyword int in javascript

answered May 25, 2013 at 20:47

Anish Gupta

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Comments

sylwia · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-25 20:59:09Z

2

This is what you wanted:

function countWords(str) {
var count = 0,
i,
foo = str.length;

for (i = 0; i <= foo;i++;) {
if (str.charAt(i) == " ") {
count ++;
}

}
return console.log(count + 1);  
}


countWords("I am a short sentence");

btw. try to avoid declaring variables inside loop, it's faster when outside

answered May 25, 2013 at 20:59

sylwia

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