How do I count comma-separated values in PHP?

Question

I have a variable holding values separated by a comma (Implode), and I\'m trying to get the total count of the values in that variable. However. count() is just returning 1.

Answer 1

Should be

$result = count(explode(',',$schools));

Answer 2

You need to explode $schools into an actual array:

$schools = $_SESSION['sarray'];
$schools_array = explode(",", $schools);
$result = count($schools_array);

if you just need the count, and are 100% sure it's a clean comma separated list, you could also use substr_count() which may be marginally faster and, more importantly, easier on memory with very large sets of data:

$result = substr_count( $_SESSION['sarray'], ",") +1; 
 // add 1 if list is always a,b,c;

Answer 3

If there is sarray key set in session array, the count will return 1 for an empty string as well.

$session = array('sarray' => '');

$count = count(explode(',', $session['sarray']));

echo $count;

// => 1

So, if you want to count the number of items in the array, you will have to add an additional check for empty.

$session = array('sarray' => '');

$count = !empty($session['sarray']) ? count(explode(',', $session['sarray'])) : 0;

echo $count;

// => 0

Now, let's check if this works with items inside sarray.

$session = array('sarray' => 'foo, bar');

$count = !empty($session['sarray']) ? count(explode(',', $session['sarray'])) : 0;

echo $count;

// => 2

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

$schools = $_SESSION['sarray'];
$array = explode(',', $schools); array_walk($array, 'trim');
$count = count($array);

The array_walk($array, 'trim') will remove any trailing space in elements value. :)

Answer 5

Actually, its simpler than that:

$count = substr_count($schools, ',') + 1;