check number of character

francis_tom · October 5, 2009, 9:56am

hi,

I would like to calculate number of character for a number,

for exemple : 1200 --> there are 4 characters , 120001 -> 5 characters

vino · October 5, 2009, 10:00am

a=1200
echo ${#a}

And number of characters in 120001 is 6 and not 5.

rdcwayx · October 5, 2009, 10:32pm

$ echo "120001" | awk '{print length($1)}'
6

vidyadhar85 · October 5, 2009, 11:32pm

Its always better to use shell builtin's as VINO suggested ${#var}

rdcwayx · October 5, 2009, 11:57pm

Yes, I agree, and vino's command is the best.