This will count the number of commas in a string.
MyString = "1,2,3,4"
StartPosition = 1
MyCount = 0
Do While Instr(StartPosition, MyString, ",") > 0
StartPosition = Instr(StartPosition, MyString, ",")+1
MyCount = MyCount + 1
Loop
If you use VB(A), you can use the Split function...