Counting pairs of newline characters in a string

I have a string that is text read in from a file. Within it there are
pairs of newline characters and I want to count how many there are.
Here is an irb example:-

irb(main):001:0> str = “bob
irb(main):002:0”
irb(main):003:0" and Jane"
=> “bob\n\nand Jane”
irb(main):004:0> str.count(“\n\n”)
=> 2

Each newline character is counted separately so I get the number 2
returned instead of the number 1 which is what I require.
Is there a way for me to count pairs of newline characters with a
simple function?

Regards,

Chris

Thanks Chad, works a treat.

On 4/14/07, celldee [email protected] wrote:

Each newline character is counted separately so I get the number 2
returned instead of the number 1 which is what I require.
Is there a way for me to count pairs of newline characters with a
simple function?

Hi. One way is: str.scan(/\n\n/).size

Chad