That's all well and good,
tobyink, but coding your proposed solution increases the complexity far beyond anything readily identifiable as "simple."
To avoid complexity, one must know in advance that the delimiter follows something else at the start of the string (or is followed by something at the end)... in which case, counting with a pencil, paper and strike-thrus may be just as effective...
or
If the topology of the string is unknown, then you must deal with the permutations...
- Delimiter first in the string, and last
- Delimiter NOT first in string, but is last
- Delimiter first in string, but NOT last
- Delimiter neither first nor last
- Delimiter occurs an odd number of times in string where it is either first or last
- ... (I'm sure I've missed some)
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