The count_chars Function
The count_chars function counts how
many times different characters occur in a string.
The first parameter of the function is the string, and the second optional parameter is a modifier that changes the result of the function.
Syntax
count_chars(string $string, int $mode = 0): array|string
Modifier Values
Depending on the value of the parameter, the function returns the following:
-
Value
0- an array whose keys areASCIIcodes, and the values are the number of occurrences of the corresponding character. -
Value
1- the same as for0, but information about characters with zero occurrences is not included in the array. -
Value
2- the same as for0, but the array includes information only about characters with zero occurrences. -
Value
3- a string consisting of characters that appear in the original string at least once. -
Value
4- a string consisting of characters that do not appear in the original string.
By default, the function behaves as if
the second parameter is set to 0.
Example
Let's count the number of
characters in a string by setting
the modifier to value 1:
<?php
$str = 'aaabbc';
$res = count_chars($str, 1);
var_dump($res);
?>
As a result, the function will return codes
of all characters from 0 to 255,
and among these codes will be the codes of our
characters from the string:
[
0 => 0,
1 => 1,
...
97 => 3, // 97 is the code of the character 'a'
98 => 2, // 98 is the code of the character 'b'
99 => 1, // 99 is the code of the character 'c'
...
255 => 0,
]
Example
Let's count the number of
characters in a string by setting
the modifier to value 1:
<?php
$str = 'aaabbc';
$res = count_chars($str, 1);
var_dump($res);
?>
As a result, the function will return only the codes of the found characters and the number of these characters:
[
97 => 3, // 97 is the code of the character 'a'
98 => 2, // 98 is the code of the character 'b'
99 => 1, // 99 is the code of the character 'c'
]
See Also
-
the
substr_countfunction,
which counts the number of substrings -
the
count_charsfunction,
which counts the number of characters -
the
str_word_countfunction,
which counts the number of words
