#!/bin/bash

strToCheck=$1;
charToSearch=$2;

let pos=`echo "$strToCheck" | awk -F ''$charToSearch'' '{printf "%d", length($0)-length($NF)}'`

echo "char $charToSearch lastpos is: $pos"

[zeal]$ sh rindex.sh www.zeali.net .
char . lastpos is: 10

#include <strings.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
    char* wholeWord;
    char subChar;
    char* subWord;

    int ret;

    if(argc!=3){
        printf("Use:rindex word char/n");
        exit(0);
    }
    wholeWord=argv[1];
    subChar=*argv[2];
    subWord=rindex(wholeWord,subChar);

    if(0 == subWord)
        ret = 0;
    else
        ret = (subWord-wholeWord+1);
    printf("%d/n",ret);
}