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This sample uses a macro to count the number of words contained in a macro variable. The macro is using a space as the delimiter.

Note: If you are counting the number of words in a non-macro variable, the COUNT, COUNTC or COUNTW functions can be used in a DATA step for SAS^® 9 and later releases.

/* Method 1: WORD_COUNT1                      */
/* This method is valid in SAS 9.1 and above. */

 %let string = blue red green;
 %let word_cnt=%sysfunc(countw(&string));
 %put There are &word_cnt words in the string "&string";

/* Method 2: WORD_COUNT2           */
/* This method is valid in SAS 9.0 */

%let string=blue red green;
%let word_cnt=%eval(%sysfunc(count(%cmpres(&string),%str( )))+1);
%put There are &word_cnt words in the string "&string";

/* Method 3: WORD_COUNT3              */
/* This method works prior to SAS 9.0 */

%macro words(string);
  %local count word;
  %let count=1;
  /* The third argument of the %QSCAN function specifies the delimiter */
  %let word=%qscan(&string,&count,%str( ));
  %do %while(&word ne);
    %let count=%eval(&count+1);
    %let word=%qscan(&string,&count,%str( ));
  %end;
  %eval(&count-1)
%mend words;

%let string=blue red green;
                                                    
%put There are %words(&string) words in the string "&string";

The following is printed to the log: 

There are 3 words in the string "blue red green"

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