How to Count All the Array Elements with PHP

Suppose, you have an array that includes several elements, and you need to count all of them with the help of PHP. Here, we will represent two handy methods to do that.

Using the count() Function

Watch a video course Learn object oriented PHP

To count all the current elements inside an array. In the case of an empty array, it will return 0.

The syntax is shown below:

<?php

count($array, mode);

?>

And, here is an example:

<?php
// PHP program for counting all the elements
// or values inside an array

// Using the count() function
$array = ["W3docs1", "W3docs2", "W3docs3", "1", "2", "3"];

echo "Count first array elements: " . count($array) . "\n";

$array = [
  'names' => ["W3docs1", "W3docs2", "W3docs3"],
  'rank' => ['1', '2', '3'],
];

echo "Recursive count: " . count($array, 1) . "\n";
echo "Normal count: " . count($array, 0);

?>

Count first array elements: 6
Recursive count: 8
Normal count: 2

Using the sizeof() Function

This function is used for counting the number of the elements inside an array or another countable object.

The syntax used for this function is as follows:

<?php

sizeof($array, mode);

?>

To be more precise, let’s see an example:

<?php
// PHP program for counting all the elements
// or values inside an array

// Use of sizeof() function
$array = ["W3docs1", "W3docs2", "W3docs3", "1", "2", "3"];

echo "Count second array elements: " . sizeof($array) . "\n";

$array = [
  'names' => ["W3docs1", "W3docs2", "W3docs3"],
  'rank' => ['1', '2', '3'],
];

echo "Recursive count: " . sizeof($array, 1) . "\n";
echo "Normal count: " . sizeof($array, 0) . "\n";

?>

After using the sizeof() function, you will have the following output:

  Count second array elements: 6
  Recursive count: 8
  Normal count: 2

Above, we represented two helpful functions that can be used for counting the elements of an array in PHP. Both the functions are easy in usage and can make you improve your work.