Whats the best way to get total # of records in a mysql table with php?

Question

Whats the most efficient way of selecting total number of records from a large table? Currently, Im simply doing

$result = mysql_query(\"SELECT id FROM table         


        

Answer 1

MyISAM tables already store the row count

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table

on a MyISAM table simply reads that value. It doesn't scan the table or the index(es). So, it's just as fast or faster than reading the value from a different table.