Category/Comment format

I have this

<p>Posted <?php the_time('m.d.y') ?> in <?php the_category('separator', 'parents'); ?> <span>|</span> <?php comments_popup_link('0 Comments', '1 Comment', '% Comments'); ?><?php edit_post_link('Edit', ''); ?></p>


And the "|" is displayed near my category when that is the only link at the top under my header. How do I remove the "|" when there isn't a second link?

I would do it two ways:
1) My preferred way would be to find some method of counting how many links there are going to be before anything is displayed, and if there is more than one link, then I would just use an if statement and print it.
2) Maybe you should try to incorporate the "|" into the "echo" or "print" statements of the functions, so it'll print alongside the link.