[bash] Length of string in bash

UTF-8 string length

In addition to fedorqui's correct answer, I would like to show the difference between string length and byte length:

myvar='Généralités'
chrlen=${#myvar}
oLang=$LANG oLcAll=$LC_ALL
LANG=C LC_ALL=C
bytlen=${#myvar}
LANG=$oLang LC_ALL=$oLcAll
printf "%s is %d char len, but %d bytes len.\n" "${myvar}" $chrlen $bytlen

will render:

Généralités is 11 char len, but 14 bytes len.

you could even have a look at stored chars:

myvar='Généralités'
chrlen=${#myvar}
oLang=$LANG oLcAll=$LC_ALL
LANG=C LC_ALL=C
bytlen=${#myvar}
printf -v myreal "%q" "$myvar"
LANG=$oLang LC_ALL=$oLcAll
printf "%s has %d chars, %d bytes: (%s).\n" "${myvar}" $chrlen $bytlen "$myreal"

will answer:

Généralités has 11 chars, 14 bytes: ($'G\303\251n\303\251ralit\303\251s').

Nota: According to Isabell Cowan's comment, I've added setting to $LC_ALL along with $LANG.

Length of an argument

Argument work same as regular variables

strLen() {
    local bytlen sreal oLang=$LANG oLcAll=$LC_ALL
    LANG=C LC_ALL=C
    bytlen=${#1}
    printf -v sreal %q "$1"
    LANG=$oLang LC_ALL=$oLcAll
    printf "String '%s' is %d bytes, but %d chars len: %s.\n" "$1" $bytlen ${#1} "$sreal"
}

will work as

strLen théorème
String 'théorème' is 10 bytes, but 8 chars len: $'th\303\251or\303\250me'

Useful printf correction tool:

If you:

for string in Généralités Language Théorème Février  "Left: ?" "Yin Yang ?";do
    printf " - %-14s is %2d char length\n" "'$string'"  ${#string}
done

 - 'Généralités' is 11 char length
 - 'Language'     is  8 char length
 - 'Théorème'   is  8 char length
 - 'Février'     is  7 char length
 - 'Left: ?'    is  7 char length
 - 'Yin Yang ?' is 10 char length

Not really pretty... For this, there is a little function:

strU8DiffLen () { 
    local bytlen oLang=$LANG oLcAll=$LC_ALL
    LANG=C LC_ALL=C
    bytlen=${#1}
    LANG=$oLang LC_ALL=$oLcAll
    return $(( bytlen - ${#1} ))
}

Then now:

for string in Généralités Language Théorème Février  "Left: ?" "Yin Yang ?";do
    strU8DiffLen "$string"
    printf " - %-$((14+$?))s is %2d chars length, but uses %2d bytes\n" \
        "'$string'" ${#string} $((${#string}+$?))
  done 

 - 'Généralités'  is 11 chars length, but uses 14 bytes
 - 'Language'     is  8 chars length, but uses  8 bytes
 - 'Théorème'     is  8 chars length, but uses 10 bytes
 - 'Février'      is  7 chars length, but uses  8 bytes
 - 'Left: ?'      is  7 chars length, but uses  9 bytes
 - 'Yin Yang ?'   is 10 chars length, but uses 12 bytes

Unfortunely, this is not perfect!

But there left some strange UTF-8 behaviour, like double-spaced chars, zero spaced chars, reverse deplacement and other that could not be as simple...

Have a look at diffU8test.sh or diffU8test.sh.txt for more limitations.