SimpleXMLElement::count

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7)

Counts the children of an element

public int SimpleXMLElement::count ( void )

This method counts the number of children of an element.

Returns:

Returns the number of elements of an element.

Examples:

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.