Variable length expansion

# How many characters are in variable XYZ? XYZ="12345" echo ${#XYZ} # How many parameters did you feed me? function howmany () { echo ${#@} } howmany 1 2 3 4 5 6789 # How many elements are in array XYZ? XYZ=( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7) echo ${#XYZ[@]}