how to extract the count of a repeatable character in a text

[Anonymous]

Hello!

I have a column is a text, like aa,bb,aa,aa,aa,cc,aa,aa,.. I need to count how many times aa has appeared in this text. 
table is like this
ID       Action
001     aa,bb,aa,aa,aa,cc,aa,aa
002     bb,cc,aa,aa,aa,cc,aa,aa,aa,aa,aa

003     aa,dd,dd,aa,aa,aa

I need to add a column to show how many times aa appeared in action for each id. 

Thank you in advance for your kind help!

[Analystmate]

@Anonymous

You can try a new custom column in the example below by using Power Query  

Count M Code for custom column  (Text.Length([#"Action"])-Text.Length(Text.Replace([#"Action"],"aa","")))/2

[Anonymous]

Hi @MDodds , Thank you very much! It is a very smart way! As I am looking for aa instead of a, I think the formula should be :  NumberofAAs = (LEN('Table'[Action])-LEN(SUBSTITUTE('Table'[Action],"aa","")))/2, right? 

[MDodds]

Spot on, good result.

[MDodds · Accepted solution]

Hi DuoHappy,

Try creating a new calculated column with the following DAX:

NumberofAs = LEN('Table'[Action])-LEN(SUBSTITUTE('Table'[Action],"a",""))

It should produce a result like so:

Just be careful of case sensitivity.

Good luck, reach out if you need more help!