PHP Array Length

PHP array length, count, size, and others are expressions to find how many items are in the array. In this tutorial, we are going to cover all of them and the differences between them.

Learn more about PHP arrays.

PHP array length content

• PHP count() function
• Multidimensional array length
• PHP sizeof() function
• Array length with PHP loops

PHP count() function

This function returns the array length in PHP or a countable object. This function counts the number of elements in the array or object. This method is the best and most common way to get the count of array items.

count(array, mode);

If you use this function with an array parameter, it counts all elements in the array. When use with an object that implements the Countable interface, it returns the return value of the method Countable::count().

$cars = array("fer" => "Ferrari", "ben" => "Benz", "bmw" => "BMW", "vol" => "Volvo");

var_dump(count($cars));

Output

4

Multidimensional array length

$cars = array(
    "Volvo" => array(
        "XC60",
        "XC90"
    ),
    "BMW" => array(
        "X3",
        "X5"
    ),
    "Toyota" => array(
        "Highlander"
    )
);

var_dump(count($cars)); //Normal
var_dump(count($cars, 1)); //Recursive 

Output

3

8

sizeof() function

PHP sizeof() function is a built-in function that returns the number of elements in an array. In this section of the PHP, the size of the array and the count of the array are the same.

sizeof(array, mode);

$cars = array("fer" => "Ferrari", "ben" => "Benz", "bmw" => "BMW", "vol" => "Volvo");

var_dump(sizeof($cars));

Output

4

This function is the same as the count() function.

$cars = array(
    "Volvo" => array(
        "XC60",
        "XC90"
    ),
    "BMW" => array(
        "X3",
        "X5"
    ),
    "Toyota" => array(
        "Highlander"
    )
);

var_dump(sizeof($cars)); //Normal
var_dump(sizeof($cars, 1)); //Recursive 

Output

3

8

Array length with PHP loops

With loops in PHP, you can count elements of an array. Learn more about PHP loops in our tutorial.

$cars = array("fer" => "Ferrari", "ben" => "Benz", "bmw" => "BMW", array("vol" => "Volvo", "toy" => "Toyota"));

$count = 0;
foreach ($cars as $car) {
    $count++;
}

var_dump($count);

Output

4

With the following code, you can count multidimensional arrays with PHP loops.

function array_count($array)
{
    static $counter = 0;
    if (is_array($array)) {
        foreach ($array as $item) {
            if (is_array($item)) {
                array_count($item);
            } else {
                $counter++;
            }
        }
    }
    return $counter;
}

$cars = array("fer" => "Ferrari", "ben" => "Benz", "bmw" => "BMW", array("vol" => "Volvo", "toy" => "Toyota"));

var_dump(array_count($cars));

Output

5