How to count non-empty entries in a PHP array?

Question

Consider:

[name] => Array ( [1] => name#1
                  [2] => name#2
                  [3] => name#3
                  [4] => name#4
                  [5] =>
                  [6] =>
                  [7] =>
                  [8] =>
                  [9] =>
                )


$name = $_POST['name']

I want the result to be 4.

count ($name) = 9
count (isset($name)) = 1
count (!empty($name)) = 1

I would think that last one would accomplish what I need, but it is not (the empty entries are from unfilled inputs on the form).

Answer 1

You can use array_filter to only keep the values that are “truthy” in the array, like this:

array_filter($array);

If you explicitly want only non-empty, or if your filter function is more complex:

array_filter($array, function($x) { return !empty($x); });
# function(){} only works in in php >5.3, otherwise use create_function

So, to count only non-empty items, the same way as if you called empty(item) on each of them:

count(array_filter($array, function($x) { return !empty($x); }));