CFLib.org – Common Function Library Project

Description:
Counts how many different chars are in a string. Usable for passwords where you can ensure there is at least x different chars, can check case sensitive and not.

Return Values:
Returns a number.

Example:

<cfset mystring = "aAbBcC">
<cfoutput>
Not case sensitive: #differentChars(mystring)#<br>
Case sensitive: #differentChars(mystring,true)#
</cfoutput>

Parameters:

Full UDF Source:

<cfscript>
/**
 * Counts how many different chars are in a string.
 * removed use of arguments. to make it cf5 compat
 * 
 * @param string 	 String to check. (Required)
 * @param caseSensitive 	 Determines if case sensitivity is used. Defaults to false. (Optional)
 * @return Returns a number. 
 * @author Bjorn Jensen (&#112;&#117;&#98;&#108;&#105;&#99;&#46;&#99;&#102;&#108;&#105;&#98;&#64;&#115;&#97;&#103;&#104;&#105;&#97;&#110;&#46;&#99;&#111;&#109;) 
 * @version 1, February 6, 2004 
 */
function differentChars(string){
	var iCount = 0;
	var i = 0;
	var sChars = "";
	var sChar = "";
	var caseSensitive = false;

	if (arrayLen(arguments) eq 2 and isBoolean(arguments[2]) and arguments[2]) {
		caseSensitive = true;
	}
	
	for(i=1;i lte len(string);i=i+1){
		sChar = mid(string, i, 1);
		if (caseSensitive and not find(sChar, sChars)){
			sChars = sChars & sChar;
			iCount = iCount+1;
		} else if (not caseSensitive and not findNoCase(sChar, sChars)){
			sChars = sChars & sChar;
			iCount = iCount+1;
		}
	}

	return iCount;
}
</cfscript>