Count the total number of elements in one or more lists

Summary

The size macro counts and returns the total number of elements across one or more comma-separated lists.

Syntax

${size;<list>[;<list>...]}

Parameters

  • list - One or more comma-separated lists to count

Behavior

  • Splits each list on commas
  • Counts all elements across all lists
  • Returns total count as integer
  • Empty elements are counted

Examples

Count elements in a list:

${size;a,b,c,d}
# Returns: 4

Count multiple lists:

${size;red,green;blue,yellow}
# Returns: 4

Count packages:

package.count=${size;${packages}}

Conditional on list size:

${if;${size;${exports}};has-exports;no-exports}

Use Cases

  • Counting list elements
  • Validating list sizes
  • Conditional logic based on count
  • Build statistics
  • Dependency counting

Notes

  • Returns integer count
  • Combines all provided lists
  • Empty strings are counted as elements
  • Maximum 16 lists (implementation limit)
  • See also: ${length} for string length

See test cases in MacroTestsForDocsExamples.java