macOS Applescript bug in TextEdit?

[Jeromie]

I wrote a short script to do a word count in TextEdit, and I found a curious bug. (I know there are existing applications out there. I was trying to update the AppleScript included with NanoCount to be simpler and work with Leopard and learn AppleScript while I was at it.) I'd like someone to tell me if there's something I'm missing, or if this is just something I need to send into a bug report.

The basic structure of the AppleScript looked like this:

if application "TextEdit" is running then
	tell application "TextEdit"
		count words of the front document
	end tell
end if

There are a couple of syntax variations that work just as well, but this one gets the job done. Unless I have a number followed immediately by a period or a comma.

This sentence will count as 9 words:
I have turned 10 and the day is glorious.

And so will this one:
I have turned ten, and the day is glorious.

But this one will count as 4 (it stops counting words when it gets to 10, )
Today I turned 10, and the day is glorious.

(Please ignore the lameness of my example sentences.)

A number by itself doesn't disrupt the counting, and other punctuation like a semicolon or exclamation point doesn't cause the odd behavior.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Is there a good workaround other than handing the work off to a unix command and returning the results? I just found this behavior totally bizarre.

 

[MongoTheGeek]

I wrote a short script to do a word count in TextEdit, and I found a curious bug. (I know there are existing applications out there. I was trying to update the AppleScript included with NanoCount to be simpler and work with Leopard and learn AppleScript while I was at it.) I'd like someone to tell me if there's something I'm missing, or if this is just something I need to send into a bug report.

The basic structure of the AppleScript looked like this:

if application "TextEdit" is running then
	tell application "TextEdit"
		count words of the front document
	end tell
end if

There are a couple of syntax variations that work just as well, but this one gets the job done. Unless I have a number followed immediately by a period or a comma.

This sentence will count as 9 words:
I have turned 10 and the day is glorious.

And so will this one:
I have turned ten, and the day is glorious.

But this one will count as 4 (it stops counting words when it gets to 10, )
Today I turned 10, and the day is glorious.

(Please ignore the lameness of my example sentences.)

A number by itself doesn't disrupt the counting, and other punctuation like a semicolon or exclamation point doesn't cause the odd behavior.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Is there a good workaround other than handing the work off to a unix command and returning the results? I just found this behavior totally bizarre.

Send a bug report.

'Today I turned 10,000 and the day is glorious.' returns 9.

While, 'Today I turned 10. and the day is glorious.' returns 4.


The problem is with whatever it is using to parse text sees the , or the . and thinks it's still in the number.

AppleScript gets it right so you could say.

if application "TextEdit" is running then
	tell application "TextEdit"
		set theWords to text of the front document
	end tell
end if
count theWords

The proper shell command is wc

$wc
Today I turned 10, and the day is glorious.
1 9 44

Lines Words Letters