PHP array_count_values: How it Works with Examples

Developers use the array_count_values function in PHP to find how many times each value appears in an array.

What is the array_count_values Function in PHP?

The array_count_values function in PHP counts how many times a value exists inside an array. It works only with values that can act as keys. It does not count objects or arrays because keys must be scalar values.

The syntax looks like this:

array_count_values(array $array): array

It accepts one parameter, which is the array. It returns an array where keys are unique values from the input and values are the count of how many times they appear.

Here is a quick example:

$nums = [1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3];
print_r(array_count_values($nums));

The output:

Array
(
    [1] => 1
    [2] => 2
    [3] => 3
)

This example shows you:

• One appears once.
• Two appear twice.
• Three appear three times.

Here is another example with a mixed array:

$data = ["apple", "apple", 10, 10, 10, "banana"];
print_r(array_count_values($data));

The output:

Array
(
    [apple] => 2
    [10] => 3
    [banana] => 1
)

This result shows that the function can work with both string values and numbers.

The Differences Between array_count_values and count in PHP

The count function in PHP tells you how many elements exist in an array. The array_count_values function tells you how many times each unique value repeats.

Use count when you only want the size of the array. Use array_count_values when you want to group values and know how often each one repeats.

Examples

Count Values in a Simple Array:

$letters = ["a", "b", "a", "c", "b", "a"];
print_r(array_count_values($letters));

The output:

Array
(
    [a] => 3
    [b] => 2
    [c] => 1
)

This example shows how the function counts repeated letters inside a simple array and outputs the number of times each one appears.

Count Mixed Numbers and Strings:

$data = [1, "1", 1, 2, "apple", "apple", 2];
print_r(array_count_values($data));

The output:

Array
(
    [1] => 3
    [2] => 2
    [apple] => 2
)

In this example the function counts numbers and strings. It treats one and “1” as two different keys, and it shows how string values can repeat like numbers.

Use with Large Array:

$items = array_merge(range(1, 5), [3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5]);
print_r(array_count_values($items));

The output:

Array
(
    [1] => 1
    [2] => 1
    [3] => 3
    [4] => 4
    [5] => 5
)

Here, the function counts values in a larger array that contains a range of numbers and extra repeated values, so the output highlights how counts grow with more data.

Count Results then Filter:

$data = ["apple", "apple", "banana", "banana", "banana", "orange"];
$counts = array_count_values($data);
foreach ($counts as $fruit => $count) {
    if ($count > 2) {
        echo $fruit . " repeats " . $count . " times\n";
    }
}

The output:

banana repeats 3 times

This example shows how you can use the result of array_count_values inside a loop. It prints only the items that repeat more than two times.

Wrapping Up

You learned how the array_count_values function works and how it differs from count. You also saw how to use it with mixed values and advanced cases.

Here is a quick recap:

• array_count_values returns counts of each value in an array.
• count returns only the size of the array.
• Use array_count_values when you need to group and count values.

FAQs

$nums = array(1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3);
$result = array_count_values($nums);
print_r($result);

$words = array("apple","banana","apple","orange","banana","apple");
$result = array_count_values($words);
print_r($result);

$items = array("pen","pen","book","pencil");
echo count($items); 
// Output: 4

print_r(array_count_values($items)); 
// Output: Array ( [pen] => 2 [book] => 1 [pencil] => 1 )

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