note 10029 added to mysql_num_rows

If you don't need the data and simply need row counts, don't use mysql_num_rows as mysql can count much faster with its own count function. In such cases, I use the following little function, perhaps it'll be of some use : function getRowTotal ($db_table,$db_count_field='',$db_count_value='') { $q = "select count(*) from $db_table"; if (!empty($db_count_field)) { $q .= " WHERE $db_count_field='$db_count_value'"; } $r = mysql_query ("$q") or die (mysql_error()); Return mysql_result($r,0); } Uses : ------ // Returns number of rows in table getRowTotal('tablename'); // Returns number of NULL (empty) rows in a table column getRowTotal('tablename','columnname'); // Returns number of VALUES in table column getRowTotal('tablename','columnname','value'); You can assign as a variable '$count = getRowTotal(...)' or print it 'print getRowTotal(...)' Notes : ------- mysql_num_rows() makes more sense if you've already done the SELECT and need to know how many rows are in your result set. http://www.php.net/manual/function.mysql-num-rows.php