number of pattern matches

[alarik149]

OK,so,I have a pattern that scans a file and returnes all the matches into $matches[$x][$y] but I want to know how many matches Ive got.How do I do that?I use preg_match_all.
regards...

[obsidian]

[quote=PHP Manual]
PREG_PATTERN_ORDER

Orders results so that $matches[0] is an array of full pattern matches, $matches[1] is an array of strings matched by the first parenthesized subpattern, and so on.
[/quote]

With this in mind, you'd want to run your preg_match_all() function with the PREG_PATTERN_ORDER flag set. Then, you'd simply be able to count() all the results in $matches[0]:

[code]
<?php
preg_match_all($pattern, $String, $matches, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER);
echo "There were " . count($matches[0]) . " found!";
?>
[/code]

Hope this helps