Let's say I have this string: 
/FAQ/ 
(a URI, actually) 
An explode action (delim is /)with a resulting count of the array reveals 3 elements. 
After an array_shift or array_pop, the count goes to 1. 3-1=1?

$uri = strtolower(preg_replace("/[^a-zA-Z0-9\/]/","",$HTTP_SERVER_VARS["REQUEST_URI"]));
$uri = explode("/", $uri); // make it an array
echo count($uri);
$uri = array_shift($uri); // delete first value which is always empty
echo count($uri);