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                                     count

   (PHP 3, PHP 4 )
   count -- Count elements in a variable

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).

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

     Note: The optional mode parameter is available as of PHP 4.2.0.

   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.

   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 Arrays 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;
   ?>

   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
   ?>

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

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