Count Asterisks
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use Test;
my &count-asterisks = *.comb(
/<[\w*]>*"|"<[\w*]>*"|"/
)>>.&{ .split("|").head.comb: "*" }.sum;
is "p|*e*rl|w**e|*ekly|".&count-asterisks, 2;
is "perl".&count-asterisks, 0;
is "th|ewe|e**|k|l***ych|alleng|e".&count-asterisks, 5;
Raku
INFO