str_word_count() function to count words used with their position in a string

$str="Welcome to Plus2net.com to learn PHP";
echo str_word_count($str); // Output is 8

Syntax

str_word_count ( $input_string, int $format, $char_list)

Parameter	DESCRIPTION
$input_string	Required : Input string
$format	Optional : 0 : Output gives number of words found. ( default ) 1 : Output gives an array with all the words present in Input string 2 : Output gives an associative array with key giving position of the word inside the string with value holding the Word.
$char_list	Optional : Additional chars to be considered as Word.

Output is integer ( if $format is 0 ) showing number of words present OR an array ( if $format is 1 or 2 )

With $format = 1 output will be an array. We will display the elements of the array.

$str="Welcome to Plus2net.com to learn PHP";
$ar=str_word_count($str,1); // Output is an array. 

while (list ($key, $val) = each ($ar)) {
echo "$key -> $val <br> ";
}

Output is here

0 -> Welcome 
1 -> to 
2 -> Plus 
3 -> net 
4 -> com 
5 -> to 
6 -> learn 
7 -> PHP

By using $format=2 we will get associative array showing key as position of the words.

$str="Welcome to Plus2net.com to learn PHP";
$ar=str_word_count($str,2); // Output is an array. 

while (list ($key, $val) = each ($ar)) {
echo "$key -> $val <br> ";
}

Output is here

0 -> Welcome 
8 -> to 
11 -> Plus 
16 -> net 
20 -> com 
24 -> to 
27 -> learn 
33 -> PHP

By adding optional parameter $char_list, we will add additional chars to consider as Word

$str="Welcome to Plus2net.com to learn PHP";
$ar=str_word_count($str,1,'2'); 

while (list ($key, $val) = each ($ar)) {
echo "$key -> $val <br> ";
}

Output is here

0 -> Welcome 
1 -> to 
2 -> Plus2net 
3 -> com 
4 -> to 
5 -> learn 
6 -> PHP

Now let us add . and 2 to char list to consider as Word

$str="Welcome to Plus2net.com to learn PHP";
$ar=str_word_count($str,1,'2,.'); 

while (list ($key, $val) = each ($ar)) {
echo "$key -> $val <br> ";
}

Output is here

0 -> Welcome 
1 -> to 
2 -> Plus2net.com 
3 -> to 
4 -> learn 
5 -> PHP

With associative array to show position of the words inside the string

$str="Welcome to Plus2net.com to learn PHP";
$ar=str_word_count($str,2,'2,.'); 

while (list ($key, $val) = each ($ar)) {
echo "$key -> $val <br> ";
}

Output is here

0 -> Welcome 
8 -> to 
11 -> Plus2net.com 
24 -> to 
27 -> learn 
33 -> PHP

By using above code to list out words present in a string, we can count the frequency of occurrence of each word by using array_count_values()

$str="Welcome to Plus2net.com to learn PHP";
$ar=array_count_values(str_word_count($str,1,'2,.')); 

while (list ($key, $val) = each ($ar)) {
echo "$key -> $val <br> ";
}

Output is here

Welcome -> 1 
to -> 2 
Plus2net.com -> 1 
learn -> 1 
PHP -> 1

String Functions Check for all upper case letters or all lower case letters. Counting Sub string inside a string explode(): Breaking a string

Subhendu Mohapatra

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str_word_count(): counting & Position of words in a String

Subhendu Mohapatra