Javascript Code Function to Provide String Word Count

Simple, Reliable Javascript Function to Return the Number of Words in a Javascript String

Simple Javascript function to count the number of words in a string, regardless of the amount of white space, multiple spaces, tabs, carriage returns the string has.

/* ------------------------------------------------- WORD COUNT FUNCTION REMOVES TABS AND MULTIPLE SPACES FROM INPUT STRING [str] AND THEN DOES ARRAY COUNT AS A RESULT OF SPLITTING [str] BY SINGLE SPACE -------------------------------------------------- */ function word_count(str){ str = str.replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim(); // REMOVE WHITE SPACE, TABS CARRIAGE RETURN ret = str.split(' ').length; // SINCE [str] NOW ONLY HAS SINGLE SPACE, return ret; // SPLIT BY THAT AND RETURN LENGTH OF ARRAY }