Word count [seperator: ' ', '\t', '\n', '\r']

word_count.c

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>


int word_count(const char* str)
{
  size_t word_count = 0;
  size_t char_counter = 0;
  size_t str_length = strlen(str);

  char* new_str = malloc(str_length+1);
  strcpy(new_str, str);
  char* p_new_str = new_str;

  while(*p_new_str != '\0')
    {
      if ((*p_new_str == ' ') || (*p_new_str == '\t') || (*p_new_str == '\n') || (*p_new_str == '\r'))
	{
	  if (char_counter > 0)
	  {
	      word_count++;
	      p_new_str++;
	      char_counter =0; /* every time a word is found, char_counter is reset to 0 */ 
	  }
	  else
	    {
	      p_new_str++;
	    }
	}
      else
	{
	  char_counter++;
	  p_new_str++;
	}
    }
  
  /* word count after the last seperator */
  if (char_counter > 0)
    {
      word_count++;
    }
  
  free(new_str);
  return word_count;
}


int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
  int wcount;
  wcount = word_count(argv[1]);
  printf("%zd\n", wcount);
  return 0;
}