Whats the proper way to check if mysql_query() returned any results?

Question

I tried what seemed like the most intuitive approach

$query = \"SELECT * FROM members 
          WHERE username = \'$_CLEAN[username]\'
          AND password =          


        

Answer 1

What about this way:

$query = "SELECT * FROM members WHERE username = '$_CLEAN[username]'
                                  AND password = '$_CLEAN[password]'";
$result = mysql_query($query);
$result = mysql_fetch_array($result);

//you could then define your variables like:
$username = $result['username'];
$password = $result['password'];

if ($result)
{ ...

I like it because I get to be very specific with the results returned from the mysql_query.

-Ivan Novak