

   CCoouunntt tthhee NNuummbbeerr ooff FFiieellddss ppeerr LLiinnee

        count.fields(file, sep = "", skip = 0)

   AArrgguummeennttss::

       file: a character string naming an ASCII data file

        sep: the field separator character.  Values on each
             line of the file are separated by this character.
             By default, arbitrary amounts of whitespace can
             seperate fields.

       skip: the number of lines of the data file to skip
             before beginning to read data.

   DDeessccrriippttiioonn::

        `count.fields' counts the number of fields, as seper-
        ated by `sep', in each of the lines of `file' read.  It
        is used by `read.table';  a user will typically have no
        need for it.

   VVaalluuee::

        A vector with the numbers of fields found.

   SSeeee AAllssoo::

        `read.table'

   EExxaammpplleess::

        cat("NAME", "1:John", "2:Paul", file = "foo", sep = "\n")
        count.fields("foo", sep = ":")

