How to count exact match of certain patterns in a text file using linux shell command?

Question

I want to find the count of certain pattern in a text file which contains lot of mixed patterns also using linux shell command.

I have a text file which contains below patterns,

[--------------]

[+--------------+]

[+----------+------------+--------------------+]

[+---------------------+---------------------+]

How to find exact count of only first pattern [--------------] ?

Note: Don't include square bracket as a pattern. Only special character inside square bracket is a pattern.

Answer 1

cat ./file | sed -e 's/\\]/\\]\\n/' |grep "\\[--------------\\]" -c

cat reads file
sed replace ] with ]\\n
grep searches every line for your expression and prints the number of lines -c