Python program to Count words in a given string?

Sometimes we need to count the number of words in a given string. Python provides several approaches to accomplish this task, from manual counting using loops to built-in methods like split().

Using For Loop

This method counts words by detecting whitespace characters manually ?

test_string = "Python is a high level language. Python is interpreted language."
total = 1

for i in range(len(test_string)):
    if test_string[i] == ' ' or test_string[i] == '\n' or test_string[i] == '\t':
        total = total + 1

print("Total Number of Words:", total)

Total Number of Words: 11

Using While Loop

Similar approach using a while loop instead of for loop ?

test_string = "Python is a high level language. Python is interpreted language."
total = 1
i = 0

while i < len(test_string):
    if test_string[i] == ' ' or test_string[i] == '\n' or test_string[i] == '\t':
        total = total + 1
    i += 1

print("Total Number of Words:", total)

Total Number of Words: 11

Using a Custom Function

Creating a reusable function to count words ?

def count_words(text):
    word_count = 1
    for i in range(len(text)):
        if text[i] == ' ' or text[i] == '\n' or text[i] == '\t':
            word_count += 1
    return word_count

test_string = "Python is a high level language. Python is interpreted language."
total = count_words(test_string)
print("Total Number of Words:", total)

Total Number of Words: 11

Using Built-in split() Method

The most efficient and reliable approach using Python's built-in split() method ?

test_string = "Python is a high level language. Python is interpreted language."
words = test_string.split()
total = len(words)

print("Words:", words)
print("Total Number of Words:", total)

Words: ['Python', 'is', 'a', 'high', 'level', 'language.', 'Python', 'is', 'interpreted', 'language.']
Total Number of Words: 10

Comparison

Conclusion

The split() method is the most reliable and efficient way to count words in a string. Manual counting with loops is useful for understanding the logic but may miss edge cases like multiple spaces.