Countin array variables

[Cuban]

i want to be able to count an array that uses a varible to get the data e.g

$contents = "one, two, three, four";

$topic = array("$contents");
    echo count($topic) . "\n";

but this returns the value of 1.
Scontents is pulled from a different file.

[laserlight]

um, that's because $contents is not an array, but a string (i.e. a scalar).