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

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.