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# str_word_count

(PHP 4 >= 4.3.0, PHP 5)

str_word_count -- Return information about words used in a string

## Description

mixed str_word_count ( string string [, int format])

Counts the number of words inside `string`. If the optional `format` is not specified, then the return value will be an integer representing the number of words found. In the event the `format` is specified, the return value will be an array, content of which is dependent on the `format`. The possible value for the `format` and the resultant outputs are listed below.

- 1 - returns an array containing all the words found inside the `string`.

- 2 - returns an associative array, where the key is the numeric position of the word inside the `string` and the value is the actual word itself.

For the purpose of this function, 'word' is defined as a locale dependent string containing alphabetic characters, which also may contain, but not start with "'" and "-" characters.

Example 1. Example uses for str_word_count()
`<?php $str = "Hello friend, you're looking good today!"; $a = str_word_count($str, 1); $b = str_word_count($str, 2); $c = str_word_count($str); print_r($a); print_r($b); echo $c; ?>`
Output may look like:
    Array
    (
        [0] => Hello
        [1] => friend
        [2] => you're
        [3] => looking
        [4] => good
        [5] => today
    )

    Array
    (
        [0] => Hello
        [6] => friend
        [14] => you're
        [29] => looking
        [46] => good
        [51] => today
    )

    6

See also explode(), preg_split(), split(), count_chars(), and substr_count().

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