trying to count the database rows

[mark103]

Hi guys,

I have a bit of a problem with print out the rows from mysql database. I am trying to count how many rows there are in a table, but I get this: There are 2 Users Online right nowThere are 2 Users Online right nowError: Query was empty

I want to print out something like this: There are 2 Users Online right now

<?php
session_start();
    define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
    define('DB_USER', 'dbusername');
    define('DB_PASSWORD', 'dbpass');
    define('DB_DATABASE', 'dbname');

$errmsg_arr = array();
$errflag = false;

$link = mysql_connect(DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD);
if(!$link) {
  die('Failed to connect to server: ' . mysql_error());
    }

$db = mysql_select_db(DB_DATABASE);
if(!$db) {

die("Unable to select database");
    }

   function clean($var){

return mysql_real_escape_string(strip_tags($var));
    }
    $username = clean($_GET['user']);


if($username == '' && $pass == ''){
   // both are empty
   $errmsg_arr[] = 'Username are missing.';
   $errflag = true;
}

if($errflag) {
  $_SESSION['ERRMSG_ARR'] = $errmsg_arr;
  echo implode('<br />',$errmsg_arr);
   }
   else {

$insert = array();
if(isset($_GET['user'])) {
    $insert[] = 'username = \'' . clean($_GET['user']) .'\'';
}


if (count($insert)>0) {
   $names = implode(',',$insert);


if($username == 'all') {
  $names = implode(',',$insert);
  $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Online_Users");
  $num_rows = mysql_num_rows($result);

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
  echo "There are $num_rows Users Online right now";
  }

if (!mysql_query($sql,$link))
  {
  die('Error: ' . mysql_error());
  }
 }
}
?>

Any advice would be much appreicate.

Thanks,
Mark

[bradgrafelman]

Why are you using a mysql_fetch_*() function in a loop? If you just want the number of records matched, then don't fetch anything...

[NogDog]

In the long run, it may be more efficient -- especially moving from 2 users on-line to 2000 users on-line -- to do a count via the query:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Online_Users");
echo "There are " . mysql_result($result, 0) . " users on-line.";