count

(PHP 3, PHP 4 )

count -- Count elements in a variable

Description

int count ( mixed var)

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

If var is not an array, 1 will be returned (exception: count(NULL) equals 0).

Warning

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

Example 1. count() example

$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;

Note: The sizeof() function is an alias for count().

See also is_array(), isset(), and strlen().