/* return the number of times the character was encountered in the string  */
static int count_char_occurence(const char *input, const char char_to_count)
/* return the number of times the character was encountered in the string  */
static int count_char_occurence(const char *input, const char char_to_count)
{
        if (*current == char_to_count) occur++;
    current++;
  }
  return occur;
}