read characters and words in HTML text using javascript

Question

consider that i am getting a HTML format string and want to read the number of words & characters, Consider, i am getting,

var HTML =  '<p>BODY&nbsp;Article By Archie(Used By Story Tool)</p>';

now i want to get number of words and characters

above html will look like:

BODY Article By Archie(Used By Story Tool)

IMPORTANT

1. i want to avoid html tags while counting words or character
2. avoid keywords like ** ** etc..
3. Ex. words and character should be counted of : (for current example)
   BODY Article By Archie(Used By Story Tool)

please help,
Thank You.

Answer 1

1. Use a hidden HTML element that can render text like span or p

2. Assign the string to the innerHTML of the hidden element.

3. Count the characters using length property of innerText/textContent.

To read the word count you can

1. Split the innerText/textContent using empty space

2. Get the length of the returned array.

Answer 2

Algorithm:

• Sweep through the entire html
• Perform regex replaces
  • replace <.*> (regex for anyting tat stays withing <>)by nothing
  • replace /&nbsp/ by nothing
• tip: can be done by replace function in javascript. hunt on w3schools.com

Now you have the clutter out!

then perform a simple word/character count

Answer 3

To give an example for adamantium's suggestion:

var e = document.createElement("span");
e.innerHTML = '<p>BODY&nbsp;Article By Archie(Used By Story Tool)</p>';
var text = e.textContent || e.innerText;

var characterCount = text.length;
var wordCount = text.split(/[\s\.\(\),]+/).length;

Update: Added other word-stop characters