SimpleXMLElement::__construct
SimpleXMLElement::getDocNamespaces
SimpleXMLElement
PHP Manual

# SimpleXMLElement::count

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0)

SimpleXMLElement::count — Counts the children of an element

### Description

public int SimpleXMLElement::count ( void )

This method counts the number of children of an element.

### Return Values

Returns the number of elements of an element.

### Examples

Example #1 Counting the number of children

`<?php
$xml = <<<EOF
<people>
<person name="Person 1">
<child/>
<child/>
<child/>
</person>
<person name="Person 2">
<child/>
<child/>
<child/>
<child/>
<child/>
</person>
</people>
EOF;
$elem = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);
foreach ($elem as $person) {
printf("%s has got %d children.\n", $person['name'], $person->count());
}
?>`

The above example will output:

    Person 1 has got 3 children.
    Person 2 has got 5 children.

### See Also

- SimpleXMLElement::children() - Finds children of given node

SimpleXMLElement::__construct
SimpleXMLElement::getDocNamespaces
SimpleXMLElement
PHP Manual