count Count elements in a variable intcount mixedvar intmode 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). 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. 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. ]]> 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 ?> ]]> The sizeof function is an alias for count. See also is_array, isset, and strlen.