PHP: count() function

Last update on August 19 2022 21:51:15 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

PHP: Count all elements in an array

The count() function is used to count the elements of an array or the properties of an object.

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

Version:

(PHP 4 and above)

Syntax:

count(array_name, mode)

Parameters:

Name	Description	Required / Optional	Type
array_name	Specifies the array or object to count.	Required	Array
mode	Sets the mode of the function. Possible values : COUNT_RECURSIVE (or 1) : here the count() function counts the array recursively. This is useful for counting all the elements of a multidimensional array. The default value is 0.	Optional	Integer

Return value:

The number of elements in array_name.

Value Type: Array.

Note: The count() function may return 0 for a variable which is not set, but it may also return 0 for a variable that has been initialized with an empty array.
The isset() function should be used to test whether a variable is set or not.

Example :

<?php
$a[0] = 'Language';
$a[1] = 'English';
$a[2] = 'Math';
$a[3] = 'Science';
$result = count($a);
echo $result;
?>

Output:

Pictorial Presentation:

php function reference: count() function

View the example in the browser

Practice here online :

See also

PHP Function Reference

Previous: compact
Next: current