PHP – Count Rows in MySQL Database Table

This is a quick PHP function to count rows in a MySQL database table. It takes 2 parameters, which are:

1. $link This is the MySQL connection object which is made, for example, by using mysqli_connect() or mysqli_init().
2. $table The name of the table that you want to count rows for.

The function will a return an integer, the number of rows in the table.

/**
 * Counts the rows in a MySQL database table
 * @param object $link A link identifier returned by mysqli_connect() or mysqli_init()
 * @param string $table The name of the table to count rows for.
 * @return integer The number of rows in the table.
 */
function isa_count_table_rows($link, $table){
	$c = 0;
	$result = mysqli_query($link,"SHOW TABLE STATUS");
	if ($result) {
		while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
			if ($table != $row['Name']) continue;
			$c = $row['Rows'];
		}
	}
	mysqli_free_result($result);
	return (int) $c;	
}

Usage Example

This example counts rows in a table named some_table. Be sure to insert your own database details on line 2.

// connect to database
$link = mysqli_connect($db_host, $db_username, $db_password, $db_name);

// check connection
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
    printf("Connect failed: %s", mysqli_connect_error());
    exit;
}

// count rows in a table named 'some_table'
$count = isa_count_table_rows($link, 'some_table');

printf("Table 'some_table' has %d rows.", $count);

mysqli_close($link);