"$count{$current}" how this code will be interpreted in php?

Question

I just saw a piece of php code. I couldn't find an explanation how the interpretor will evaluate this statement $newstring .= "$count{$current}";.

$string = "111221";

for($i = 0; $i < strlen($string); $i++) {

$current = $string[$i];
$count = 1;

while(isset($string[$i + $count]) && ($string[$i + $count] == $current)) $count++;
$newstring .= "$count{$current}";

$i += $count-1;
}

print $newstring;

Anybody please explain this line "$count{$current}". I imagine the doubles quotes is for typecasting to string. But, $count and $current should be numbers. Then what will be the meaning of the curly braces?

Answer 1

$newstring .= "$count{$current}";

is the same for

$newstring .= $count . $current;