Question

this is what I have right now:

$text = "test"; 
$count = substr_count($text, "Hello Everyone this is a 
                                  test test test that im testing");

the value $count is 4. I would like to say 3 instead because the word testing is not the same as test.
I am open to doing this using regular expressions if its better/easier ?
any suggestions please

Answer 1

Use the word boundary escape sequence \b in preg_match_all():

$count = preg_match_all('/\btest\b/', "Hello Everyone this is a 
                              test test test that im testing");

See also: Escape sequences