no records vs database error

[bingo333]

Hello,

I would really appreciate any help! and thanks in advance!

Is there any way to distinguish if a query result produces no records matching your criteria as against if an error occurred if an error is running?

I normally use the following format when I query a database:

$query = "SELECT .... FROM .... WHERE ....";
$result = mysql_query($query);
if (!$result)
{
// either there are no records to match the criteria or, a
database error occurred
echo ("either error or no records");
}

The problem is that I can't distinguish between a "no matching records" or a database error.

Should I use a mysql_num_rows instead? Is the following correct?

$numrows = mysql_num_rows($result)
if (!$numrows)
{ //means that there was an error running query??? }
else
{ //returns number of matching records, including zero }

Thanks!!
😕

[jburfield]

I would suggest mysql_num_rows() as you mention, if the query returns no results, that is not an error...so to find out if it returned anything you need to test the rows returned with mysql_num_rows().

-- Jason

[jeremuck]

you can also check mysql_error()...
it returns an empty string (false) if there were no errors.

I check if there are any errors using the above. Then if there are none, I start getting the rows. I use a post-test loop in order to be able to check the rows before doing anything.

[bingo333]

Thanks so much!!