comparing strings (or sequences)

[Skaperen]

count_of_equal_items('skaperen','skapare') -> 4
count_of_equal_items('war','raw') -> 0
count_of_equal_items('a','a') -> 1
count_of_equal_items([0,1,2,3,4,5,6],[0,1]*9) -> 2
count_of_equal_items('a','b') -> 0
count_of_equal_items('','hello')-> 0
count_of_equal_items('heavy','hello') -> 2

what i am wondering is whether i should implement count_of_equal_items() or not, and if so, is there a way to do it, short of brute force python, that i overlooked in the docs.