evenly distribute items

By an item you mean ... ? What is $x ?
With what I understood, you need to distribute let's say numbers from 1to $x. So if the $x is:
1,2,3,4 - <td>1234</td>
5 <tr><td>123</td></tr><tr><td>45</td></tr>
6 <tr><td>123</td></tr><tr><td>456</td></tr>
7 <tr><td>1234</td></tr><tr><td>567</td></tr>
8 <tr><td>1234</td></tr><tr><td>5678</td></tr>
9<tr><td>123</td></tr><tr><td>456</td></tr><tr><td>789</td></tr>

right ?

yes

how to do this in php

$x is count of items


each item has an image
echo'<img src='.$x.'>';

So the $x variable is an array ? If yes, let's get the count of items in it.

<table>
<?php
// count the items in an array 
$num = count($x);
   switch($x){
      case 1,2,3,4: 
         echo"<tr><td>";
         for($i=0$i<$num;$i++)
            echo"<img src='$x[$i]' />";
         echo"</td></tr>"; break;

      case 5: 
         echo"<tr><td><img src='$x[0]' /><img src='$x[1]' /><img src='$x[2]' /></td></tr>"; 
         echo"<tr><td><img src='$x[3]' /><img src='$x[4]' /></td></tr>"; 
         break;

      case 6: 
         echo"<tr><td><img src='$x[0]' /><img src='$x[1]' /><img src='$x[2]' /></td></tr>"; 
         echo"<tr><td><img src='$x[3]' /><img src='$x[4]' /><img src='$x[5]' /></td></tr>"; 
         break;

      case 7: 
         echo"<tr><td><img src='$x[0]' /><img src='$x[1]' /><img src='$x[2]' /><img src='$x[3]' /></td></tr>"; 
         echo"<tr><td><img src='$x[4]' /><img src='$x[5]' /><img src='$x[6]' /></td></tr>"; 
         break;

      case 8: 
         echo"<tr><td><img src='$x[0]' /><img src='$x[1]' /><img src='$x[2]' /><img src='$x[3]' /></td></tr>"; 
         echo"<tr><td><img src='$x[4]' /><img src='$x[5]' /><img src='$x[6]' /><img src='$x[7]' /></td></tr>"; 
         break;
   }

   // TO DO
   // handling of more than 9 items
   
?>
</table>

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The more than 9 items situation - what if there are 14 items - it means that there should be 3 rows with 5,5,4 items ?

I may not be getting the concept exactly right, but try this and see if it makes sense to you.  On the web at:
http://www.laprbass.com/RAY_temp_rgb192.php

<?php // RAY_temp_rgb192.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
echo "<pre>";


// FROM THE POST AT EE:
// evenly distribute items
// Question:
// if $x<=4 do one row
// if $x<=8 && $x>=5 two rows
// if $x>=9 three rows


// IF ANYTHING POSTED
if (!empty($_POST["i"]))
{
    // GET THE POSTED DATA IN A LOCAL VAR
    $i = (int)trim($_POST["i"]);

    // MAYBE MAKE SOME SANITY CHECKS ABOUT THE NUMBER HERE

    // START THE TABLE
    echo "VIEW SOURCE TO SEE THE TABLE" . PHP_EOL;
    echo "<table>" . PHP_EOL;

    while ($i)
    {
        // SET THE COUNTER FOR THE ROW
        $n = 4;

        // START THE ROW
        echo "<tr>" . PHP_EOL;

        while ($n)
        {
            // START THE DATA ELEMENTS
            echo "<td>$i</td>" . PHP_EOL;

            // DECREMENT THE COUNTER
            $i--;

            // FILLS OUT THE ROW WITH EMPTY CELLS
            if ($i == 0) $i = NULL;

            // COUNT CELLS PER ROW
            $n--;
        }

        // END OF THIS ROW
        echo "</tr>" . PHP_EOL;
    }

    // END OF THIS TABLE
    echo "</table>" . PHP_EOL;
}

// END PHP, PUT UP THE FORM
?>
<form method="post">
ENTER A NUMBER BETWEEN 1 AND 9
<input name="i" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>

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ray answer was not 'even'
there was a
4 in one row
and
2 in another row

wanted 3 3


>>The more than 9 items situation - what if there are 14 items - it means that there should be 3 rows with 5,5,4 items ?

and roads answer
was correct
but  how do to 3 rows

5
5
4
is what I want

Thanks Ray I was not aware of that function.

I assume that the range is closed downwards (of course...) with only one item - the specific case is that when the number of items is >= 9, so what I did was to add some more to that, to see if the function works.

>>Which is more important to you - the number of rows or the number of items per row?

 the number of items per row

thanks
I have a similar question up to 14 items

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26837126/evenly-distribute-items.html?anchorAnswerId=34952440#a34952440

sorry
this is the correct link to simliar question

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26839182/evenly-distribute-items-up-to-14-items.html