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(PHP 3, PHP 4, PHP 5)

count -- Count elements in an array, or properties in an object

Description

int count ( mixed var [, int mode] )

Returns the number of elements in var , which is typically an array , since anything else will have one element.

For objects, if you have SPL installed, you can hook into count() by implementing interface Countable . The interface has exactly one method, count() , which returns the return value for the count() function.

If var is not an array or an object with implemented Countable interface, 1 will be returned. There is one exception, if var is NULL , 0 will be returned.

If the optional mode parameter is set to COUNT_RECURSIVE (or 1), count() will recursively count the array. This is particularly useful for counting all the elements of a multidimensional array. The default value for mode is 0 . count() does not detect infinite recursion.

Caution

count() may return 0 for a variable that isn't set, but it may also return 0 for a variable that has been initialized with an empty array. Use isset() to test if a variable is set.

Please see the Array section of the manual for a detailed explanation of how arrays are implemented and used in PHP.

Example 1. count() example

<?php
$a[0] = 1;
$a[1] = 3;
$a[2] = 5;
$result = count($a);
// $result == 3

$b[0]  = 7;
$b[5]  = 9;
$b[10] = 11;
$result = count($b);
// $result == 3

$result = count(null);
// $result == 0

$result = count(false);
// $result == 1
?>

Example 2. Recursive count() example (PHP >= 4.2.0)

<?php
$food = array('fruits' => array('orange', 'banana', 'apple'),
              'veggie' => array('carrot', 'collard', 'pea'));

// recursive count
echo count($food, COUNT_RECURSIVE); // output 8

// normal count
echo count($food); // output 2

?>

Related Function(s)

isset()

is_array()

strlen()