You can write the function for counting words recursively as well as
with a while loop. Let’s see how this is done.
First, we need to recognize that the count-words-example
function has three jobs: it sets up the appropriate conditions for
counting to occur; it counts the words in the region; and it sends a
message to the user telling how many words there are.
If we write a single recursive function to do everything, we will receive a message for every recursive call. If the region contains 13 words, we will receive thirteen messages, one right after the other. We don’t want this! Instead, we must write two functions to do the job, one of which (the recursive function) will be used inside of the other. One function will set up the conditions and display the message; the other will return the word count.
Let us start with the function that causes the message to be displayed.
We can continue to call this count-words-example.
This is the function that the user will call. It will be interactive.
Indeed, it will be similar to our previous versions of this
function, except that it will call recursive-count-words to
determine how many words are in the region.
We can readily construct a template for this function, based on our previous versions:
;; Recursive version; uses regular expression search
(defun count-words-example (beginning end)
"documentation…"
(interactive-expression…)
;;; 1. Set up appropriate conditions.
(explanatory message)
(set-up functions…
;;; 2. Count the words.
recursive call
;;; 3. Send a message to the user.
message providing word count))
The definition looks straightforward, except that somehow the count
returned by the recursive call must be passed to the message
displaying the word count. A little thought suggests that this can be
done by making use of a let expression: we can bind a variable
in the varlist of a let expression to the number of words in
the region, as returned by the recursive call; and then the
cond expression, using binding, can display the value to the
user.
Often, one thinks of the binding within a let expression as
somehow secondary to the primary work of a function. But in this
case, what you might consider the primary job of the function,
counting words, is done within the let expression.
Using let, the function definition looks like this:
(defun count-words-example (beginning end) "Print number of words in the region." (interactive "r")
;;; 1. Set up appropriate conditions.
(message "Counting words in region ... ")
(save-excursion
(goto-char beginning)
;;; 2. Count the words.
(let ((count (recursive-count-words end)))
;;; 3. Send a message to the user.
(cond ((zerop count)
(message
"The region does NOT have any words."))
((= 1 count)
(message
"The region has 1 word."))
(t
(message
"The region has %d words." count))))))
Next, we need to write the recursive counting function.
A recursive function has at least three parts: the do-again-test, the next-step-expression, and the recursive call.
The do-again-test determines whether the function will or will not be
called again. Since we are counting words in a region and can use a
function that moves point forward for every word, the do-again-test
can check whether point is still within the region. The do-again-test
should find the value of point and determine whether point is before,
at, or after the value of the end of the region. We can use the
point function to locate point. Clearly, we must pass the
value of the end of the region to the recursive counting function as an
argument.
In addition, the do-again-test should also test whether the search finds a word. If it does not, the function should not call itself again.
The next-step-expression changes a value so that when the recursive function is supposed to stop calling itself, it stops. More precisely, the next-step-expression changes a value so that at the right time, the do-again-test stops the recursive function from calling itself again. In this case, the next-step-expression can be the expression that moves point forward, word by word.
The third part of a recursive function is the recursive call.
Somewhere, we also need a part that does the work of the function, a part that does the counting. A vital part!
But already, we have an outline of the recursive counting function:
(defun recursive-count-words (region-end) "documentation…" do-again-test next-step-expression recursive call)
Now we need to fill in the slots. Let’s start with the simplest cases first: if point is at or beyond the end of the region, there cannot be any words in the region, so the function should return zero. Likewise, if the search fails, there are no words to count, so the function should return zero.
On the other hand, if point is within the region and the search succeeds, the function should call itself again.
Thus, the do-again-test should look like this:
(and (< (point) region-end)
(re-search-forward "\\w+\\W*" region-end t))
Note that the search expression is part of the do-again-test—the
function returns t if its search succeeds and nil if it
fails. (See The Whitespace Bug in
count-words-example, for an explanation of how
re-search-forward works.)
The do-again-test is the true-or-false test of an if clause.
Clearly, if the do-again-test succeeds, the then-part of the if
clause should call the function again; but if it fails, the else-part
should return zero since either point is outside the region or the
search failed because there were no words to find.
But before considering the recursive call, we need to consider the next-step-expression. What is it? Interestingly, it is the search part of the do-again-test.
In addition to returning t or nil for the
do-again-test, re-search-forward moves point forward as a side
effect of a successful search. This is the action that changes the
value of point so that the recursive function stops calling itself
when point completes its movement through the region. Consequently,
the re-search-forward expression is the next-step-expression.
In outline, then, the body of the recursive-count-words
function looks like this:
(if do-again-test-and-next-step-combined
;; then
recursive-call-returning-count
;; else
return-zero)
How to incorporate the mechanism that counts?
If you are not used to writing recursive functions, a question like this can be troublesome. But it can and should be approached systematically.
We know that the counting mechanism should be associated in some way
with the recursive call. Indeed, since the next-step-expression moves
point forward by one word, and since a recursive call is made for
each word, the counting mechanism must be an expression that adds one
to the value returned by a call to recursive-count-words.
Consider several cases:
From the sketch we can see that the else-part of the if returns
zero for the case of no words. This means that the then-part of the
if must return a value resulting from adding one to the value
returned from a count of the remaining words.
The expression will look like this, where 1+ is a function that
adds one to its argument.
(1+ (recursive-count-words region-end))
The whole recursive-count-words function will then look like
this:
(defun recursive-count-words (region-end)
"documentation…"
;;; 1. do-again-test
(if (and (< (point) region-end)
(re-search-forward "\\w+\\W*" region-end t))
;;; 2. then-part: the recursive call (1+ (recursive-count-words region-end)) ;;; 3. else-part 0))
Let’s examine how this works:
If there are no words in the region, the else part of the if
expression is evaluated and consequently the function returns zero.
If there is one word in the region, the value of point is less than
the value of region-end and the search succeeds. In this case,
the true-or-false-test of the if expression tests true, and the
then-part of the if expression is evaluated. The counting
expression is evaluated. This expression returns a value (which will
be the value returned by the whole function) that is the sum of one
added to the value returned by a recursive call.
Meanwhile, the next-step-expression has caused point to jump over the
first (and in this case only) word in the region. This means that
when (recursive-count-words region-end) is evaluated a second
time, as a result of the recursive call, the value of point will be
equal to or greater than the value of region end. So this time,
recursive-count-words will return zero. The zero will be added
to one, and the original evaluation of recursive-count-words
will return one plus zero, which is one, which is the correct amount.
Clearly, if there are two words in the region, the first call to
recursive-count-words returns one added to the value returned
by calling recursive-count-words on a region containing the
remaining word—that is, it adds one to one, producing two, which is
the correct amount.
Similarly, if there are three words in the region, the first call to
recursive-count-words returns one added to the value returned
by calling recursive-count-words on a region containing the
remaining two words—and so on and so on.
With full documentation the two functions look like this:
The recursive function:
(defun recursive-count-words (region-end) "Number of words between point and REGION-END."
;;; 1. do-again-test
(if (and (< (point) region-end)
(re-search-forward "\\w+\\W*" region-end t))
;;; 2. then-part: the recursive call (1+ (recursive-count-words region-end)) ;;; 3. else-part 0))
The wrapper:
;;; Recursive version
(defun count-words-example (beginning end)
"Print number of words in the region.
Words are defined as at least one word-constituent character followed by at least one character that is not a word-constituent. The buffer's syntax table determines which characters these are."
(interactive "r")
(message "Counting words in region ... ")
(save-excursion
(goto-char beginning)
(let ((count (recursive-count-words end)))
(cond ((zerop count)
(message
"The region does NOT have any words."))
((= 1 count)
(message "The region has 1 word."))
(t
(message
"The region has %d words." count))))))