my sql best practice with php for counting rows

Question

1) Count record:

//Connect to mysql server
$link = mysql_connect(HOST, USER, PASSWORD);
if(!$link) {
    die(\'Could not connect to server: \' . mysql_error());
         


        

Answer 1

When you only need the count the record, you should use COUNT() function of mysql, instead of load all of the records.

$query="SELECT COUNT(*) AS num FROM `table` WHERE `abc`='123'";

Second, use PDO instead of mysql_ functions.