PHP: Count a stdClass object

Question

I have a stdClass object created from json_decode that won't return the right number when I run the count($obj) function. The object has 30 properties, but the return on the count() function is say 1.

Any ideas?

Below is an example of one of the objects. (I'm requesting the daily trend information from Twitter). If this object had more than one property, the count($obj) would equal 1.

Could you clarify your example? As you posted it, it is has one property 2009-08-21 11:05, being an array with 20 entries, so count($trends) would rightfully return 1. — Henrik Opel
– Henrik Opel, Commented Aug 22, 2009 at 0:28
As Steven pointed out, the Object is of type stdClass, which does not implement the Countable interface, thus count(<stdClass object>) will always return 1. — Henrik Opel
– Henrik Opel, Commented Aug 22, 2009 at 0:35
Hopel, you're exactly right. If I cast the object to an array it returns the correct number! Excellent. — hellopat
– hellopat, Commented Aug 22, 2009 at 4:18
you might want to accept an answer. especially geiven that you wrote in the comment that the first given answer works for you. — Andresch Serj
– Andresch Serj, Commented Apr 5, 2013 at 11:28

Alana Storm · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-25 16:48:18Z

332

The problem is that count is intended to count the indexes in an array, not the properties on an object, (unless it's a custom object that implements the Countable interface). Try casting the object, like below, as an array and seeing if that helps.

$total = count((array)$obj);

Simply casting an object as an array won't always work but being a simple stdClass object it should get the job done here.

edited Mar 25, 2012 at 16:48

Alana Storm

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answered Aug 22, 2009 at 0:26

Steven Surowiec

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2 Comments

Hugo Mota Over a year ago

be ware that private properties will appear in the resultant array, wich is really unexpected.

ars265 Over a year ago

While this method works, I would not use it for implementation because future versions of PHP could cause this code to break, I much prefer Alan Strom's answer.

Alana Storm · Accepted Answer · 2009-08-22 01:05:09Z

133

The count function is meant to be used on

Arrays
Objects that are derived from classes that implement the countable interface

A stdClass is neither of these. The easier/quickest way to accomplish what you're after is

$count = count(get_object_vars($some_std_class_object));

This uses PHP's get_object_vars function, which will return the properties of an object as an array. You can then use this array with PHP's count function.

answered Aug 22, 2009 at 1:05

Alana Storm

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2 Comments

XedinUnknown Over a year ago

Before PHP 7, get_object_vars() on an stdClass that resulted from casting an array to an object will yield an empty array. Casting the stdClass instance to array, on the other hand, works everywhere.

R. Daumann Over a year ago

Works for me on PHP 5.6.30

Rob Drimmie · Accepted Answer · 2009-08-22 00:27:54Z

9

The object doesn't have 30 properties. It has one, which is an array that has 30 elements. You need the number of elements in that array.

answered Aug 22, 2009 at 0:27

Rob Drimmie

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2 Comments

Rob Drimmie Over a year ago

Poking at the data a little more, it might be better to use the $assoc param with json_encode, which converts it to an array. That property you're getting is named from the timestamp which is going to be a right pain to access regularly. As an array you could just do count( $trends[0] );

hellopat Over a year ago

I probably should have given a better example. The stdClass object has more than just the one I gave in the example. It has 32, each containing an array with 20 elements.

Alix Axel · Accepted Answer · 2009-08-22 00:31:17Z

5

There is nothing wrong with count() here, "trends" is the only key that is being counted in this case, you can try doing:

count($obj->trends);

Or:

count($obj->trends['2009-08-21 11:05']);

Or maybe even doing:

count($obj, COUNT_RECURSIVE);

answered Aug 22, 2009 at 0:31

Alix Axel

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Comments

Alexander Shostak · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-05 21:30:22Z

2

You can use ArrayIterator for that purpose.

(new \ArrayIterator($obj))->count()

answered Mar 5, 2022 at 21:30

Alexander Shostak

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Comments

Martijn · Accepted Answer · 2024-12-04 10:31:50Z

1

Just use this

$i = 0;
foreach ($object as $key => $value) {
    $i++;
}

the variable $i is number of keys.

edited Dec 4, 2024 at 10:31

Martijn

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answered Oct 1, 2017 at 1:12

Arash Younesi

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Mohammad reza Ayubi · Accepted Answer · 2023-02-21 11:27:35Z

0

you can use sizeof() function to get the length of any object in PHP!

answered Feb 21, 2023 at 11:27

Mohammad reza Ayubi

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1 Comment

biziclop Over a year ago

It's just an alias of count(): php.net/sizeof

Himal Majumder · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-29 10:19:20Z

-1

Count Normal arrya or object

count($object_or_array);

Count multidimensional arrya or object

count($object_or_array, 1); // 1 for  multidimensional array count, 0 for Default

answered Feb 29, 2020 at 10:19

Himal Majumder

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Comments

WaQaR Ali · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-23 05:11:28Z

-5

count() function works with array. But if you want to count object's length then you can use this method.

$total = $obj->length;

answered Dec 23, 2015 at 5:11

WaQaR Ali

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