Magento – Easy Method to Set the Number of Columns in Product List.phtml Without XML

[php]
<?php

/* Edit the catalog/product/list.phtml template to include the following */

/* Get the layout’s page template */
$pageLayoutRootTemplate = $this->getLayout()->getBlock(‘root’)->getTemplate();

/* Set the column count based on the layout template used */
switch ($pageLayoutRootTemplate) {
case ‘page/1column.phtml’:
$_columnCount = 4;
break;

case ‘page/2columns-left.phtml’:
$_columnCount = 3;
break;

case ‘page/2columns-right.phtml’:
$_columnCount = 3;
break;

case ‘page/3columns.phtml’:
$_columnCount = 2;
break;

default:
$_columnCount = 3;
break;
}

/* Comment out or remove the Magento Column Count function usage */
/* $_columnCount = $this->getColumnCount(); */

?>
[/php]