Looking for pointers to mysql functions

I'm building a search function and I think most of the search part is solid. Now I'm trying to figure out the results part. Since my results would return about 7 fields per record, I'm thinking mysql_fetch_row over mysql results works better ? But I don't want every field from the row returned, only specific ones. Also, I want to allow for all records that meet criteria to be returned, and will set up a user variable, so they can choose how many records per page come back. Can anyone share some ideas or pointers to documentation that will allow me to set this up ? Very much appreciated! Stuart