count() & numerical arrays....

Hey all. Another simple, yet baffling for me, question: I have a comma delimited list of numbers; e.g. $num_list = "1,2,3,4" I split the number list to array -- $num_list_array = split("," $num_list) I then count the number of elements -- $count = count($num_list_array); I do not get 4 for $count, rather 1! I can't stand coming up with cludgy workarounds just to count the number of elements in a numerical list..... Any ideas? --Noah --