PHP - count li elements inside ul

Question

i'm searching for a way to count dynamic li elements inside an ul in php (not js).

For example:

<ul>

  <li> lorem </li>

  <li> ipsum </li>

  <li> dolor </li>

  <li> sit </li>

</ul>

would return me the number 4. (am i too stupid to use proper code here?)

Is there some way to accomplish that in php?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT:

The markup is generated by a cms system, the count should be placed before the list, inside the template file.

Answer 1

You can do a very simple Substring Count for <li> (or -li-) on that string and it would return the number of items.

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Edit:

$count = substr_count($html,'<li>'); //where $html holds your piece of HTML.