PHP String str_word_count() Function

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The PHP String str_word_count() function is used to retrieve details about the words that are used in a string, such as the total number of words in the string and their locations.

Syntax

Below is the syntax of the PHP String str_word_count() function −

array|int str_word_count ( $string , $returnVal, $chars )

Parameters

Here are the parameters of the str_word_count() function −

• $string − (Required) This parameter defines the string of words that the user wants to count.

• $returnVal − (Optional) It specifies the return value of the function. The current supported values are −

  0 - returns the number of words found, 1 - returns an array containing all the words found inside the string, 2 - Returns an array where the key represents the word's position in the text and the value is the actual word.

• $chars − (Optional) It is the specific information field you want to retrieve.

Return Value

The str_word_count() function returns an array or an integer, depending on the format chosen.

PHP Version

First introduced in core PHP 4.3.0, the str_word_count() function continues to function easily in PHP 5, PHP 7, and PHP 8.

Example 1

Here is the basic example of the PHP String str_word_count() function to count the number of words in a given string.

<?php
   $string = "Hello, world! How are you today?";
   $count = str_word_count($string);
   echo "The number of words in the string is: $count";
?>

Output

Here is the outcome of the following code −

The number of words in the string is: 6

Example 2

This program uses the str_word_count() function to extract all the words from a string and displays them in an array.

<?php
   $string = "Hello, world! PHP is fun.";
   $words = str_word_count($string, 1);
   print_r($words);
?> 

Output

This will generate the below output −

Array
(
   [0] => Hello
   [1] => world
   [2] => PHP
   [3] => is
   [4] => fun
)

Example 3

Now the below program counts words using the str_word_count() function in a string while treating additional characters like - and ', as part of words.

<?php
   $string = "It's a well-known fact that PHP's versatility is unmatched!";
   $count = str_word_count($string, 1, "'-");
   print_r($count);
?> 

Output

This example uses the chars parameter to treat - and ' as words. See the output below −

Array
(
   [0] => It's
   [1] => a
   [2] => well-known
   [3] => fact
   [4] => that
   [5] => PHP's
   [6] => versatility
   [7] => is
   [8] => unmatched
)

Example 4

This program shows how to count words using the str_word_count() function in a string while handling additional characters like + and &. So the final result shows the total number of words.

<?php
   $string = "PHP is +fun& powerful!";
   $count = str_word_count($string, 0, "+&");
   echo "The total number of words in the string is: $count";
?> 

Output

Following is the output of the above code −

The total number of words in the string is: 4