This gem adds one word_count method to String and Hash. It calls the Unix wc system command to count the amount of words in a String or a Hash. Other ways to count words (using regexes) are unreliable for counting words in foreign languages.
# add this to your Gemfile
gem "word_count"
# and run
bundle update
str = "the brown fox jumped over the lazy dog"
str.word_count # => 8Copyright (c) 2013 Atelier Convivialité.