How to count words in a C-String?

[MisterTams]

Hey guys,
I need your help in figuring this out.
It sounds fairly easy and I can do this code when it comes to just counting every word encountered by 1 space after it or the null terminator.
However, my design requirements are to make a function that define a word as (one or more alphabetic characters separated by one or more spaces).
I also cannot include any number/digit values that are entered into the C-String.
It is these two requirements that have me confused.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

// Function Prototype
int wordCount (char *userEntry);

int main()
{
    // Constants
    const int MAX_LENGTH = 150;

    // Local variables
    char userWords[MAX_LENGTH+1] ;
    int wCount = 0;

    // Get the user input line of text.
    cout << "Enter text less than or equal to " << MAX_LENGTH << " characters:\n";
    cin.getline(userWords,  MAX_LENGTH+1);

    // Count the number of words entered.
    wCount = wordCount (userWords);

    // Display the number of words entered
    cout << "\nNumber of words in the entered text is: " << wCount << endl;
    return 0;
}

// ********************************************************
// **
// **   Function Name:  wordCount 
// **   This function counts the # of space-delimited words 
// **   in a text string, and returns the count to the caller.
// **
// **
// ********************************************************
int wordCount (char *userEntry)
{
	int totalWords = 0;

	while (*userEntry != '\0')
	{
		if ((*userEntry == ' ' && *(userEntry + 1) != ' '))
		{
			totalWords += 1;
			userEntry++;

		}
		
		else if (isalpha(*userEntry))
			userEntry++;
		
		else if (*userEntry == '\0' ||*userEntry == '.' || *userEntry == '?'
			|| *userEntry == '!')
		{
			totalWords += 1;
			userEntry++;
		}
		
		else if (isdigit(*userEntry))
				userEntry++;
	}
	return totalWords;
} 

It won't even run properly for me. The command prompt freezes right after I enter a string.

Here are some examples of what I want for my end result.

If I enter something like

Enter text less than or equal to 150 characters:
     1            22       3333

Number of words in the entered text is: 0

or

Enter text less than or equal to 150 characters:
Hello my name is MisterTams!

Number of words in the entered text is: 5

or

Enter text less than or equal to 150 characters:
     testing   a   11 222   three  4 five

Number of words in the entered text is: 4

Any advice or help will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
MisterTams

[jlb]

What do you think happens if the character doesn't match your tested conditions?

Edit: Is using a C-string a requirement of the assignment, a C++ string would be safer.

[MisterTams]

jlb,

The character(s) should match one of my if or else if statements.
And yes, I have to use C-String not C++ String.

[Thomas1965]

You can simplify your code by using a switch to check if you are in word or not.

int wordCount(char *userEntry)
{
  int count = 0;
  bool inWord = false;
  char *cp = userEntry;

  while (*cp++)
  {
    if (isalpha(*cp))
    {
      if (!inWord) // new word
      {
        inWord = true;
        count++;
      }
    }
    else // any other char
    {
      if (inWord) // end of word found
        inWord = false;
    }
  }
  return count;
}

[jlb]

The character(s) should match one of my if or else if statements.

But what if you've missed something? You're not checking for all of the different "types" of characters so it is possible that the user will enter something you missed (ie: ';' and quite a few others).

By the way the program runs to completion for "Hello my name is MisterTams!" for me.

But there are some oddities:

$ homework
Enter text less than or equal to 150 characters:
Hello World

Number of words in the entered text is: 1
$ homework
Enter text less than or equal to 150 characters:
Hello World!

Number of words in the entered text is: 2