php: count number of times a string appears in an mySql array

Question

* edit * I asked this question as a php question, without the tag of mySql (which has been added by another SO member --> not a big deal to me, but just saying). I am sorry for any confusion the inclusion of the ?extraneous? detail that the array was from a mySql query!

I am hoping to keep the queried data from the SELECT * to loop through using PHP in an array. I thought, in order to keep this code simple, that PHP could count the number of times a string occurs in a particular position in an array. * /edit *

I would like to find out how many times a string appears in a particular column from a mySql query result.

For example, lets say I have a table 'automobiles' and their is a column 'type' in that table. The column 'type' has values such as 'sedan', 'van', 'suv' etc.

If I query everything from the table like this:

$query = "SELECT *
            FROM automobiles";

and then insert the queried values into an array:

$the_array = mysql_fetch_array($query);

and then try to quantify the number of times a string occurs like this:

$count = array_count_values($the_array);
print_r($count);

not only does this not work, but the data would be inaccurate because the values would be based on the entire table, not on the automobile 'type' column alone.

@superUntitled Eh, I'd say it belongs here. It's fairly basic, but everyone has to start somewhere... — ceejayoz
– ceejayoz, Commented Jul 3, 2011 at 18:13
Thanks everyone for your help. I think that I do understand the capabilities of the mySql COUNT() function, as well as the php funtion php_num_rows(). I would like to use all the data in the queried table (hence the 'SELECT *'), as I would like to echo back that data in a while(){} loop. I would think that php would be able to count the number of times a string appears in a particular array position. — superUntitled
– superUntitled, Commented Jul 3, 2011 at 18:16
whoops, i seem to have asked a question that is outside of the scope of the stack overflow community. How is this question not programming related? It would be nice for downvoters to let me know, so I can better serve this community in the future. — superUntitled
– superUntitled, Commented Jul 3, 2011 at 18:17

ceejayoz · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-03 17:54:42Z

5

$query = "SELECT `type`, COUNT(*) `count` FROM `automobiles` GROUP BY `type`";

answered Jul 3, 2011 at 17:54

ceejayoz

181k42 gold badges311 silver badges382 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

superUntitled Over a year ago

thanks for your insite ceejayoz! however, this will only return the COUNTed values, not the rest of the data in the table. My question pertained to the counting of a string within a php array.

sagi · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-03 17:55:06Z

1

You can do this with a simple SQL aggregation:

SELECT type, COUNT(*) FROM automobiles GROUP BY type

answered Jul 3, 2011 at 17:55

sagi

5,7621 gold badge34 silver badges31 bronze badges

Comments

rackemup420 · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-03 17:57:02Z

0

or you can go

$query = ("SELECT * FROM automobiles WHERE type='TYPE'");
$total_count = mysql_num_rows($query);
echo $total_count;

answered Jul 3, 2011 at 17:57

rackemup420

1,5672 gold badges16 silver badges38 bronze badges

4 Comments

ceejayoz Over a year ago

Not much fun when you have a couple dozen (or million) types.

rackemup420 Over a year ago

then set a variable to only look at one at a time.

ceejayoz Over a year ago

Regarding your now-deleted comment, that wasn't my "childish" downvote.

rackemup420 Over a year ago

i didnt say it was yours as when i posted my comment yours was not there. sorry to make it feel like it was you. my bad.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

php: count number of times a string appears in an mySql array

3 Answers 3

1 Comment

Comments

4 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

1 Comment

Comments

4 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related