How to check whether SELECT EXISTS returns a value or not?

Question

I am trying to quickly determine if a user_ID is the owner of a \'goal\'. I believe my SQL query is good, but I\'m trying to find a nice way of checking the result!

Answer 1

Counting how many rows match the criteria should be easier:

$sql = SELECT COUNT(*) FROM goals WHERE goal_ID='$obj_id' AND user_ID='$user_id'
$query = mysql_query($sql);
$result = mysql_fetch_row($query);

return $result[0] >= 1;