length(<somestring>)      {This gives you - have a guess - the Length of a string.}

var ct:Integer; somestring, croppedString:String; Flag:Boolean;
...
Begin
...
Flag := False;
ct:= 0;
While not Flag Do
   Begin
    Inc(ct);
    Flag := (somestring[ct] = '.') or (ct = length(somestring));        {somestring[2] gives you the 2nd letter of the string.}
   End;
croppedString:= copy(somestring, 1,ct);         {copy(String, Index, Count) gives you the "count" letters after "Index".}
...
End.

var ct,NumOfLetters: Integer; somestring: String;
...
Begin
...
NumOfLetters := 0;
For ct:= 1 to length(somestring) Do
       If (somestring[ct] <> ' ') Then                 Inc(NumOfLetters);                  {Increase NumOfLetters.}
...
End.