The str_word_count() function can be used to counts the number of words in a string.

Syntax:

str_word_count(string,return,char)

• string – Required. Specifies the string to check
• return – Optional. Specifies the return value of the str_word_count() perform.
  • 0 – Default. Returns the number of words found
  • 1 – Returns an array within the words from the string
  • 2 – Returns an array wherever the key’s the position of the word within the string, and value is that the actual word
• char – Optional. Specifies special characters to be considered as words.

Example:

<?php
$str = 'A good programmer looks both ways before crossing a one-way street.';
// Outputs: 11
echo str_word_count($str);
?>