I add up the number of args that are not blank. It works, but the printout is a string that just keep concatenating on +1. So Ex. it goes through input of: bob toto " " tom ...I get 0+1+1+1, when all I want is 3. Any help is appreciated.

count=0

for name in $*
do

  if [ "$name" != "" ]; then
  count="$count+1"
  fi

done

echo $count

Some possibilities:

let count=count+1

let "count+=1"

let "count++"

Might be better to test for a zero length string instead of comparing it to a blank one...

let count=0

for i in $*
do
   if [ ! -z "$name" ]; then
      let count+=1
   fi
done

echo $count

If you're in ksh or bash, you can add stuff using $(( )) operator:

i=1
echo $(( $i + 1 ))

Nice thing with this construction is that you can nest the math:

a=1
b=10
echo $(( $a + $(( $b + 1 )) ))

/fimblo