Question

Suppose I have the following array $diff.

a, a, a, a, b, b, b, a, a, b, b, b, a, a, a, b

A represents a value inside $diff.
B represents an Array inside $diff.

Now I have to count A if it occurred more than two times in its sequence and is not an Array (instead a value). Otherwise, disregard it.

For the above input, the code should function as follows

[a] = not an array; 0
[a,a] = not an array; 0
[a,a,a] = not an array; 3
[a,a,a,a] = not an array; 4
[b] = array;
[b,b] = array;
[b,b,b] = array;
[a] = not an array; 0
[a,a] = not an array; 0
[b] = array;
[b,b] = array;
[b,b,b] = array;
[a] = not an array; 0
[a,a] = not an array; 0
[a,a,a] = not an array; 3
[b] = array;

Here is my attempt, but it doesn’t work!, the value gets changed because the values get replaced.

<?php

foreach($diff as $key => $val)  {

    if (!is_array($diff[$key])) { // THIS MEANS THAT THE CURRENT ELEMENT IS NOT AN ARRAY. 
       if(is_array($diff[$key-1]) ) {   //START OF SEQ. IF THE PREVIOUS ELEMENT IS AN ARRAY AND CURRENT ELEMENT IS NOT AN ARRAY.

        $SEQ_START=$key;
        $n=1;

            for($i=0; $i<=count($diff); $i+=1) { // I AM CHECKING HERE IF THE NEXT 3 ELEMENTS are NOT ARRAY, HENCE I CAN INCREMENT IT

            if(!is_array($diff[$SEQ_START+$i])) $n+=1;
            else $n=0;
            }
        }
    }
}

?>

Answer 1

UPDATED as per @Grexis’ comment below

$diff = array(array(),'a', 'a', 'a', 'a', array(), array(), array(), 'a', 'a', array(), array(), array(), 'a', 'a', 'a', array());

// Counter to hold current sequence total
$count = 0;
// Array to hold results
$counted = array();

// Loop array
foreach ($diff as $key => $val) {
  if (is_array($val)) { // If it is an array
    if ($count > 2) { // If the counter is more than 2
      $counted[(isset($seq)) ? $seq + 1 : 0] = $count; // add it to the array
    }
    // Reset the counter
    $count = 0;
    $seq = $key;
  } else {
    // Increment the counter
    $count++;
  }
} 
// If there is a >2 counter at the end, add one more result
if ($count > 2) {
  $counted[(isset($seq)) ? $seq + 1 : 0] = $count;
}

print_r($counted);
// Outputs:
// Array
// (
//     [0] => 4
//     [12] => 3
// )

// or if you want the total count
$total = array_sum($counted);
echo $total; // 7

See it working