<?php
$times = ['17:45', '13:12', '09:29', '17:32', '16:49', '14:18'];
$counts = array_reduce($times, function($counts, $time) {
$hour = (int)substr($time, 0, 2);
$moment = in_array($hour, range(9, 12)) ? 'morning' : (in_array($hour, range(13, 16)) ? 'afternoon' : 'evening');
$counts[$moment]++;
return $counts;
}, ['morning' => 0, 'afternoon' => 0, 'evening' => 0]);
echo '<pre>'; var_dump($counts); echo '</pre>';
preferences:
26.26 ms | 408 KiB | 5 Q