yogi_Count Instances Of Specified Entries In A String Occur In A Column of Strings

Yogi Anand, D.Eng, P.E.       Google Spreadsheet    Post  #626   Jul 14, 2012     www.energyefficientbuild.com.


user yeah man said:
how to count the occurrence in checkbox
Guy,i am facing a difficulty to count the frequency of  certain answer in my checkbox

let say my  findings  are like that ：
Column A
A1:fish, chicken, apple
A2: chicken, vege, milk

A3:fish, apple

how to count the occurrence of  fish in that column....???
(sorry for my bad language....)

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following is a solution to a bit generalized problem