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:

/**
 * 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 (public.cflib@saghian.com) 
 * @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;
}