Number of elements found by %split

Hi,

What would be the simplest way to get the number elements that get
populated in an array using the %split BIF? For example if msg_arr is an
array of dim 10 and varchar(200)
msg_arr = %split(string:'!');

I want to know the number of elements that got assigned in msg_arr so as to
use the number in the count in DATA-GEN command.

I can use a for-each loop for %split and explicitly populate the array and
count the elements found, but I was wondering if there was a simpler way.

TIA