PHP count() Function

The PHP count() function returns the number of elements present in the given array, or in an object.

Syntax

count(array, mode)

Parameters

`array`	`Required.` Specify an array or Countable object.
`mode`	`Optional.` Specify the mode. There are two possible values: 0 - Default - Does not count all elements of multi-dimensional arrays. COUNT_RECURSIVE (or 1) - Counts the elements recursively (counts all the elements of multi-dimensional arrays).

Return Value

Returns the number of elements in the array. If the parameter is neither an array nor an object with implemented Countable interface, 1 is returned. If the parameter is null, 0 is returned.

Exceptions

Throws E_WARNING, if invalid countable types passed to the array parameter. Since PHP 8.0, it throws TypeError on invalid countable types passed to the array parameter.

Example:

The example below shows the usage of count() function.

<?php
$Arr1 = array(10, 20, 30, 40, 50);
$Arr2 = array(10, array(100, 200), array(300, 400));

//counting number of elements in Arr1
echo "Number of Elements in Arr1: ".count($Arr1)."\n";

//counting number of elements in Arr2
echo "Number of Elements in Arr2: ".count($Arr2)."\n";
echo "Number of Elements in Arr2 (Recursively): "
     .count($Arr2, 1)."\n";
?>

The output of the above code will be:

Number of Elements in Arr1: 5
Number of Elements in Arr2: 3
Number of Elements in Arr2 (Recursively): 7

Example:

In the example below, count() function is used to count number of key-value pairs in an associative array.

<?php
$Arr = array("Marry"=>25, 
             "John"=>30, 
             "Jo"=>45, 
             "Kim"=>22);

//counting number of pairs in the array
echo "Number of Pairs in Arr: ".count($Arr)."\n";
?>

The output of the above code will be:

Number of Pairs in Arr: 4

❮ PHP Array Reference