# Simple counting in Ruby
**URL:** https://rubytalk.org/t/simple-counting-in-ruby/61223
**Category:** ruby-talk
**Created:** [23 December 2010 13:35 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/simple-counting-in-ruby/61223 "2010-12-23T13:35:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Guest16](https://rubytalk.org/u/Guest16)
#### Post date: [23 December 2010 13:35 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/simple-counting-in-ruby/61223/1 "2010-12-23T13:35:33Z")
Hello,
Can someone please tell me how to get a count for the number of files in
a directory?
Example:
files = Dir.glob("\*.pdf")
puts files.count ??
That doesn't work, but, I'd love to know what would work.
Thanks,
Peter
> **···**
>
> --
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).
---
### Author:  [@Andrew\_Wagner](https://rubytalk.org/u/Andrew_Wagner)
#### Post date: [23 December 2010 13:39 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/simple-counting-in-ruby/61223/2 "2010-12-23T13:39:42Z")
Hm, that works for me. And so does: Dir["\*.pdf"]
> **···**
>
> On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 8:35 AM, Peter Bailey \ wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > Can someone please tell me how to get a count for the number of files in
> > a directory?
> > Example:
> > files = Dir.glob("\*.pdf")
> > puts files.count ??
> >
> > That doesn't work, but, I'd love to know what would work.
> > Thanks,
> > Peter
> >
> > --
> > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C).
---
### Author:  [@Phil](https://rubytalk.org/u/Phil)
#### Post date: [23 December 2010 13:40 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/simple-counting-in-ruby/61223/3 "2010-12-23T13:40:37Z")
You can interrogate "files" as to what it is, and / or what methods it accepts:
files.class
files.methods.sort
Then you can check Ruby's documentation (or remember off the top of
your head 😉 ) what other method would be appropriate (if any).
> **···**
>
> On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 2:35 PM, Peter Bailey \ wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > Can someone please tell me how to get a count for the number of files in
> > a directory?
> > Example:
> > files = Dir.glob("\*.pdf")
> > puts files.count ??
> >
> > That doesn't work, but, I'd love to know what would work.
>
> --
> Phillip Gawlowski
>
> Though the folk I have met,
> (Ah, how soon!) they forget
> When I've moved on to some other place,
> There may be one or two,
> When I've played and passed through,
> Who'll remember my song or my face.
---
### Author:  [@Guest16](https://rubytalk.org/u/Guest16)
#### Post date: [23 December 2010 13:40 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/simple-counting-in-ruby/61223/4 "2010-12-23T13:40:46Z")
I found my answer. Thanks, anyway. It's "puts files.length."
> **···**
>
> --
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).
---
### Author:  [@abinoam](https://rubytalk.org/u/abinoam)
#### Post date: [23 December 2010 21:11 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/simple-counting-in-ruby/61223/5 "2010-12-23T21:11:15Z")
files.size or file.length in Ruby 1.8.6
> **···**
>
> On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 10:35 AM, Peter Bailey \ wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > Can someone please tell me how to get a count for the number of files in
> > a directory?
> > Example:
> > files = Dir.glob("\*.pdf")
> > puts files.count ??
> >
> > That doesn't work, but, I'd love to know what would work.
> > Thanks,
> > Peter
> >
> > --
> > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C).
---
### Author:  [@Caius\_Durling](https://rubytalk.org/u/Caius_Durling)
#### Post date: [23 December 2010 13:56 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/simple-counting-in-ruby/61223/6 "2010-12-23T13:56:49Z")
It'll return an Array, which has #size or #length to return the number of elements in it.
C
> **···**
>
> On 23 Dec 2010, at 13:40, Peter Bailey wrote:
>
> > I found my answer. Thanks, anyway. It's "puts files.length."
>
> ---
> Caius Durling
> caius@caius.name
> +44 (0) 7960 268 100
> [http://caius.name/](http://caius.name/)