So what IS the best way to check if a row exists? EXISTS, COUNT or num_rows?

Question

If your only goal is to check if a row exists in php (true or false), what is the best way to do it?

Option 1?

$result          


        

Answer 1

I think the question refers more the code itself then the time involved, so using his query:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = '1'");
//if result not returned(false) from Mysql return False Else True
//This is just example and you can do anything you need in side the if()
if(!$result) {
//or return some error or redirect to another piece of code
return FALSE;
} else {
//or do some other php/mysql magic
//if there is a result you have the row to work with of needed
return TRUE;
}

mysql_query
...excerpt from PHP manual Return Values

For SELECT, SHOW, DESCRIBE, EXPLAIN and other statements returning resultset, mysql_query() returns a resource on success, or FALSE on error.

For other type of SQL statements, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, DROP, etc, mysql_query() returns TRUE on success or FALSE on error.