If you're going to do string manipulation inside of loops, you should be using the StringBuilder instead.

Another option is one I found in the VFP ToolKit for .NET (I assume it works, I haven't tested it):

Public Shared Function Occurs(ByVal tcChar As Char, ByVal cExpression As String) As Integer
    Dim i As Integer, nOccured As Integer = 0
    'Loop through the string
    For i = 0 To cExpression.Length - 1 Step i + 1
        'Check if each expression is equal to the one we want to check against
        If cExpression.Chars(i) = tcChar Then
            'if  so increment the counter
            nOccured = nOccured + 1
        End If
    Next
    Return nOccured
End Function

Public Shared Function Occurs(ByVal cString As String, ByVal cExpression As String) As Integer
    Dim nPos As Integer = 0
    Dim nOccured As Integer = 0
    Do
        'Look for the search string in the expression
        nPos = cExpression.IndexOf(cString, nPos)
        If nPos < 0 Then
            'This means that we did not find the item
            Exit Do
        Else
            'Increment the occured counter based on the current mode we are in
            nOccured = nOccured + 1
            nPos = nPos + 1
        End If
    Loop While True
    'Return the number of occurences
    Return nOccured
End Function

~~Bonnie




>I have this VFP equivalent Occurs() method but it is extremely slow. I just found that if I call this method several times that is is slowing down my process. Anyone would know what could be done to optimize this?
>
>

>        ' Count the occurences of one string within another
>        ' expC1 Character to look for
>        ' expC2 String
>        Public Function Occurs(ByVal tcCharacter As String, ByVal tcString As String) As Integer
>            Dim lcString As String = ""
>            Dim lnCount As Integer = 0
>            Dim lnLocation As Integer = 0
>            lcString = tcString
>            lnLocation = lcString.IndexOf(tcCharacter)
>            Do While lnLocation <> -1
>                lnCount = lnCount + 1
>                lcString = Mid(lcString, lnLocation + 2)
>                lnLocation = lcString.IndexOf(tcCharacter)
>            Loop
>            Return lnCount
>        End Function
>