# How to Check if Multiple Instances of a Word are in a String in AS3?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-check-if-multiple-instances-of-a-word-are-in-a-string-in-as3/638361>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [June 14, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-check-if-multiple-instances-of-a-word-are-in-a-string-in-as3/638361 "2018-06-14T04:08:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Twisted4000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Twisted4000](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Twisted4000)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-check-if-multiple-instances-of-a-word-are-in-a-string-in-as3/638361/1 "2018-06-14T04:08:39Z")

</div>

I know how to check if a specific word exists within a string in AS3 by doing the following:

if (inventory.text.indexOf(“item”) \>= 0) {  
//do something  
}

But what I don’t know how to do is checking if a specific word (such as “item” in this case) exists more than once in a string. Like, how do you check if there are two “items” in the string? Any ideas? Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![krilnon](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/krilnon/32/34_2.png) [@krilnon](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/krilnon)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 5:32am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-check-if-multiple-instances-of-a-word-are-in-a-string-in-as3/638361/2 "2018-06-14T05:32:33Z")

</div>

```javascript
inventory.text.split(/\Witem\W/).length - 1

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Twisted4000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Twisted4000](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Twisted4000)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-check-if-multiple-instances-of-a-word-are-in-a-string-in-as3/638361/3 "2018-06-15T17:40:46Z")

</div>

Thanks!! At first I was having some issues with that code, but when I switched the /\Witem\W/ to “item” it worked the way I wanted it do.