Read the following for how to use the 'how-many' function http://www.neverfriday.com/sweetfriday/2008/06/emacs-tip-word-counting-with-a.html The following site had a good idea on how to produce number of chars http://xahlee.org/emacs/elisp_count-region.html Inspired by http://750words.com ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;