of_count_phandle_with_args(9)

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay so this is of_count_phandle_with_args, and it lives in the Kernel API Manual — iconic behavior, honestly. 💅

The whole mission is to find the number of phandles references in a property. That’s the vibe: count the references, bestie. ✨

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int of_count_phandle_with_args (const struct device_node *np , const
       char *list_name , const char *cells_name );

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• np — pointer to a device tree node containing a list. This is your home base for the list.
• list_name — property name that contains a list. Basically the name of the property you’re checking.
• cells_name — property name that specifies phandles’ arguments count. It tells you how many arguments are in the mix.

💖 RETURN 💖

It returns the number of phandle + argument tuples within a property. 🫶

It is a typical pattern to encode a list of phandle and variable arguments into a single property. The number of arguments is encoded by a property in the phandle-target node. For example, a gpios property would contain a list of GPIO specifies consisting of a phandle and 1 or more arguments. The number of arguments are determined by the #gpio-cells property in the node pointed to by the phandle. no cap. 🌈

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Kernel file ./drivers/of/base.c, plus the whole related-functions friend group:

• of_find_all_nodes(9)
• __of_device_is_compatible(9)
• of_machine_compatible_match(9)
• of_machine_read_compatible(9)
• of_machine_read_model(9)
• of_machine_get_match(9)
• of_machine_get_match_data(9)
• __of_device_is_available(9)
• __of_device_is_reserved(9)
• of_device_is_available(9)
• __of_device_is_fail(9)
• of_device_is_big_endian(9)
• of_get_parent(9)
• of_get_next_parent(9)
• of_get_next_child(9)
• of_get_next_child_with_prefix(9)
• of_get_next_available_child(9)
• of_get_next_reserved_child(9)
• of_get_next_cpu_node(9)
• of_get_compatible_child(9)
• of_get_child_by_name(9)
• of_get_available_child_by_name(9)
• of_find_node_opts_by_path(9)
• of_find_node_by_name(9)
• of_find_node_by_type(9)
• of_find_compatible_node(9)
• of_find_node_with_property(9)
• of_match_node(9)
• of_find_matching_node_and_match(9)
• of_alias_from_compatible(9)
• of_find_node_by_phandle(9)
• of_parse_phandle_with_args_map(9)
• __of_add_property(9)
• of_add_property(9)
• of_remove_property(9)
• of_alias_scan(9)
• of_alias_get_id(9)
• of_alias_get_highest_id(9)
• of_console_check(9)
• of_find_next_cache_node(9)
• of_find_last_cache_level(9)
• of_map_id(9)
• of_map_iommu_id(9)
• of_map_msi_id(9)

mwah 💋 — source/version: ./drivers/of, date: October 2026.