Row Counting

[Cless]

For a query such as:

 

SELECT count(*) FROM table LIMIT 5

 

What would be the best way to count the rows found?

 

I'm aware you can use: mysql_num_rows (though I don't think you can use count() with this), mysql_result, and mysql_fetch_row, depending on the circumstance.

 

I've heard mysql_result($rows, 0) is the most efficient, however, if there are no rows found, it will give an error.

 

So what do you recommend?

[Q695]

The best way would be found at:http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-num-rows.php

[Cless]

So is that just another way of saying that mysql_num_rows() is best? =P

[Q695]

Yes, it counts the number of rows, and you can do a while loop to output what you want.

 

One of the limit options give you a set, and the other is the multiplyer for the first number in the set.

[Daniel0]

No, it is not the same. If you're looking to count the number of rows, without using those rows you should use MySQL's COUNT() function. There is a difference in the amount of work MySQL has to do.

[Q695]

I never knew there was a count command for mysql other than limit.

[Daniel0]

Then read the topic you replied to

[Andy-H]

LIMIT simply LIMITS the amount of rows returned by the query before telling mysql to stop searching.

 

COUNT() counts and returns the number of rows returned and can be accessed when fetching the data. Although I'm not sure how it's used when fetched unless used as-

 

"SELECT COUNT(*), fieldName As num FROM table"

//Then when its pulled into an associative array, for example you can access it using 

$count = $row['num'];