Count the number of paragraphs

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There are plenty of ways to count lines, words, and characters in Emacs. For instance, invoking M-= (AKA count-words-region) does that very thing on a given region. However, I am having trouble finding a way to do this for paragraphs. By paragraph, I mean the same pattern that is used for forward-paragraph and backward-paragraph. I see no easy or straightforward way to count the number of paragraphs in a region or buffer without using regexps or similar. I'm sure that I'm not the first person to face this problem, so I must be missing something. If someone could provide an easy, straightforward way to count the paragraphs in a region or buffer, I would be glad.

asked 6 hours ago

GDP2

702218

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up vote
1
down vote

favorite

asked 6 hours ago

GDP2

702218

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

favorite

asked 6 hours ago

GDP2

702218

buffers region commands text paragraphs

asked 6 hours ago

GDP2

702218

asked 6 hours ago

GDP2

702218

asked 6 hours ago

GDP2

702218

asked 6 hours ago

GDP2

702218

asked 6 hours ago

GDP2

702218

add a commentÂ |Â

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

up vote
2
down vote

accepted

Here is how the builtin count-lines works:

(- (buffer-size) (forward-line (buffer-size)))

The following changes forward-line to forward-paragraph to implement the function.

(defun count-paragraphs (start end)
 "Return number of paragraphs between START and END."
 (save-excursion
 (save-restriction
 (narrow-to-region start end)
 (goto-char (point-min))
 (- (buffer-size) (forward-paragraph (buffer-size))))))

(defun count-paragraphs-region-or-buffer ()
 "Report number of paragraphs in the region (if it's active) or the entire buffer."
 (declare (interactive-only count-paragraphs))
 (interactive)
 (let ((paragraphs (if (use-region-p)
 (count-paragraphs (region-beginning) (region-end))
 (count-paragraphs (point-min) (point-max)))))
 (message "%s has %d paragraph%s"
 (if (use-region-p) "Region" "Buffer")
 paragraphs
 (if (> paragraphs 1) "s" ""))))

answered 5 hours ago

xuchunyang

7,6141825

Thank you very much! This is well-written Elisp and I appreciate the explanation at the beginning. It does what I want quite well, and it has both an interactive & non-interactive version to boot! I think I will make good use out of this in the future. Thanks again!
â€“Â GDP2
13 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

Does this do the right thing?

(count-matches paragraph-start)

answered 5 hours ago

John Kitchin

5,2101520

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for paragraphs which are split by newlines, such as with fill-paragraph. You can see the flaw in a Help buffer or when composing an email in Message mode. The paragraphs in those buffers are often not just one line, for formatting's sake, and so there are many false positives. But I'll give you an upvote for simplicity! Thanks anyway!
â€“Â GDP2
10 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

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2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

up vote
2
down vote

accepted

Here is how the builtin count-lines works:

(- (buffer-size) (forward-line (buffer-size)))

The following changes forward-line to forward-paragraph to implement the function.

(defun count-paragraphs (start end)
 "Return number of paragraphs between START and END."
 (save-excursion
 (save-restriction
 (narrow-to-region start end)
 (goto-char (point-min))
 (- (buffer-size) (forward-paragraph (buffer-size))))))

(defun count-paragraphs-region-or-buffer ()
 "Report number of paragraphs in the region (if it's active) or the entire buffer."
 (declare (interactive-only count-paragraphs))
 (interactive)
 (let ((paragraphs (if (use-region-p)
 (count-paragraphs (region-beginning) (region-end))
 (count-paragraphs (point-min) (point-max)))))
 (message "%s has %d paragraph%s"
 (if (use-region-p) "Region" "Buffer")
 paragraphs
 (if (> paragraphs 1) "s" ""))))

answered 5 hours ago

xuchunyang

7,6141825

Thank you very much! This is well-written Elisp and I appreciate the explanation at the beginning. It does what I want quite well, and it has both an interactive & non-interactive version to boot! I think I will make good use out of this in the future. Thanks again!
â€“Â GDP2
13 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

accepted

Here is how the builtin count-lines works:

(- (buffer-size) (forward-line (buffer-size)))

The following changes forward-line to forward-paragraph to implement the function.

(defun count-paragraphs (start end)
 "Return number of paragraphs between START and END."
 (save-excursion
 (save-restriction
 (narrow-to-region start end)
 (goto-char (point-min))
 (- (buffer-size) (forward-paragraph (buffer-size))))))

(defun count-paragraphs-region-or-buffer ()
 "Report number of paragraphs in the region (if it's active) or the entire buffer."
 (declare (interactive-only count-paragraphs))
 (interactive)
 (let ((paragraphs (if (use-region-p)
 (count-paragraphs (region-beginning) (region-end))
 (count-paragraphs (point-min) (point-max)))))
 (message "%s has %d paragraph%s"
 (if (use-region-p) "Region" "Buffer")
 paragraphs
 (if (> paragraphs 1) "s" ""))))

answered 5 hours ago

xuchunyang

7,6141825

Thank you very much! This is well-written Elisp and I appreciate the explanation at the beginning. It does what I want quite well, and it has both an interactive & non-interactive version to boot! I think I will make good use out of this in the future. Thanks again!
â€“Â GDP2
13 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

accepted

Here is how the builtin count-lines works:

(- (buffer-size) (forward-line (buffer-size)))

The following changes forward-line to forward-paragraph to implement the function.

(defun count-paragraphs (start end)
 "Return number of paragraphs between START and END."
 (save-excursion
 (save-restriction
 (narrow-to-region start end)
 (goto-char (point-min))
 (- (buffer-size) (forward-paragraph (buffer-size))))))

(defun count-paragraphs-region-or-buffer ()
 "Report number of paragraphs in the region (if it's active) or the entire buffer."
 (declare (interactive-only count-paragraphs))
 (interactive)
 (let ((paragraphs (if (use-region-p)
 (count-paragraphs (region-beginning) (region-end))
 (count-paragraphs (point-min) (point-max)))))
 (message "%s has %d paragraph%s"
 (if (use-region-p) "Region" "Buffer")
 paragraphs
 (if (> paragraphs 1) "s" ""))))

answered 5 hours ago

xuchunyang

7,6141825

Here is how the builtin count-lines works:

(- (buffer-size) (forward-line (buffer-size)))

The following changes forward-line to forward-paragraph to implement the function.

(defun count-paragraphs (start end)
 "Return number of paragraphs between START and END."
 (save-excursion
 (save-restriction
 (narrow-to-region start end)
 (goto-char (point-min))
 (- (buffer-size) (forward-paragraph (buffer-size))))))

(defun count-paragraphs-region-or-buffer ()
 "Report number of paragraphs in the region (if it's active) or the entire buffer."
 (declare (interactive-only count-paragraphs))
 (interactive)
 (let ((paragraphs (if (use-region-p)
 (count-paragraphs (region-beginning) (region-end))
 (count-paragraphs (point-min) (point-max)))))
 (message "%s has %d paragraph%s"
 (if (use-region-p) "Region" "Buffer")
 paragraphs
 (if (> paragraphs 1) "s" ""))))

answered 5 hours ago

xuchunyang

7,6141825

answered 5 hours ago

xuchunyang

7,6141825

answered 5 hours ago

xuchunyang

7,6141825

answered 5 hours ago

xuchunyang

7,6141825

Thank you very much! This is well-written Elisp and I appreciate the explanation at the beginning. It does what I want quite well, and it has both an interactive & non-interactive version to boot! I think I will make good use out of this in the future. Thanks again!
â€“Â GDP2
13 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

Thank you very much! This is well-written Elisp and I appreciate the explanation at the beginning. It does what I want quite well, and it has both an interactive & non-interactive version to boot! I think I will make good use out of this in the future. Thanks again!
â€“Â GDP2
13 mins ago

Thank you very much! This is well-written Elisp and I appreciate the explanation at the beginning. It does what I want quite well, and it has both an interactive & non-interactive version to boot! I think I will make good use out of this in the future. Thanks again!
â€“Â GDP2
13 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

Does this do the right thing?

(count-matches paragraph-start)

answered 5 hours ago

John Kitchin

5,2101520

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for paragraphs which are split by newlines, such as with fill-paragraph. You can see the flaw in a Help buffer or when composing an email in Message mode. The paragraphs in those buffers are often not just one line, for formatting's sake, and so there are many false positives. But I'll give you an upvote for simplicity! Thanks anyway!
â€“Â GDP2
10 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

Does this do the right thing?

(count-matches paragraph-start)

answered 5 hours ago

John Kitchin

5,2101520

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for paragraphs which are split by newlines, such as with fill-paragraph. You can see the flaw in a Help buffer or when composing an email in Message mode. The paragraphs in those buffers are often not just one line, for formatting's sake, and so there are many false positives. But I'll give you an upvote for simplicity! Thanks anyway!
â€“Â GDP2
10 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

Does this do the right thing?

(count-matches paragraph-start)

answered 5 hours ago

John Kitchin

5,2101520

Does this do the right thing?

(count-matches paragraph-start)

answered 5 hours ago

John Kitchin

5,2101520

answered 5 hours ago

John Kitchin

5,2101520

answered 5 hours ago

John Kitchin

5,2101520

answered 5 hours ago

John Kitchin

5,2101520

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for paragraphs which are split by newlines, such as with fill-paragraph. You can see the flaw in a Help buffer or when composing an email in Message mode. The paragraphs in those buffers are often not just one line, for formatting's sake, and so there are many false positives. But I'll give you an upvote for simplicity! Thanks anyway!
â€“Â GDP2
10 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for paragraphs which are split by newlines, such as with fill-paragraph. You can see the flaw in a Help buffer or when composing an email in Message mode. The paragraphs in those buffers are often not just one line, for formatting's sake, and so there are many false positives. But I'll give you an upvote for simplicity! Thanks anyway!
â€“Â GDP2
10 mins ago

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for paragraphs which are split by newlines, such as with fill-paragraph. You can see the flaw in a Help buffer or when composing an email in Message mode. The paragraphs in those buffers are often not just one line, for formatting's sake, and so there are many false positives. But I'll give you an upvote for simplicity! Thanks anyway!
â€“Â GDP2
10 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

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