PHP_FUNCTION(count)
{
    zval *array;
    long mode = COUNT_NORMAL;
    if (zend_parse_parameters (ZEND_NUM_ARGS() TSRMLS_CC, "z|l", &array, &mode) == FAILURE)
        return;
    switch (Z_TYPE_P(array)) {
        case IS_NULL:    //    空值处理
            RETURN_LONG(0);
            break;
        case IS_ARRAY:    //    处理数组，包括其是递归
            RETURN_LONG (php_count_recursive (array, mode TSRMLS_CC));
            break;
        case IS_OBJECT: {    
    #ifdef HAVE_SPL
        /* it the object implements Countable we call its count() method */
            zval *retval;
 
            if (Z_OBJ_HT_P(array)->get_class_entry && instanceof_function(Z_OBJCE_P(array), spl_ce_Countable TSRMLS_CC)) {
                zend_call_method_with_0_params(&array, NULL, NULL, "count", &retval);
                if (retval) {
                    convert_to_long_ex(&retval);
                    RETVAL_LONG(Z_LVAL_P(retval));
                    zval_ptr_dtor(&retval);
                }
            return;
            }
    #endif
        /* if not we return the number of properties (not taking visibility into account) */
            if (Z_OBJ_HT_P(array)->count_elements) {
                RETVAL_LONG(1);
                if (SUCCESS == Z_OBJ_HT(*array)->count_elements(array, &Z_LVAL_P(return_value) TSRMLS_CC)) {
                    return;    
              }
            }
        }
    default:    //    其它情况，如考试中常见的字符串等
        RETURN_LONG(1);
        break;
    }
}

$arr = array(1, 2, 3);
$arr2 = array($arr, $arr);
echo count($arr2), '<br />';
echo count($arr2, 1);
/*   输出结果：
2
8
*/

//    php_count_recursive函数 array.c 251行
cnt = zend_hash_num_elements(Z_ARRVAL_P(array));
 
ZEND_API int zend_hash_num_elements(HashTable *ht)
{
    IS_CONSISTENT(ht);
 
    return ht->nNumOfElements;
}