Counting the number of times each variable appears in table - php

Question

Basically, I am seeking to know if there is a better way to accomplish this specific task.
Basically, what happens is I query the db for a list of "project needs" -- These are each uniquer and only appear once.
Then, I search another table to find out how many members have the required "skills - which are directly correlated to the project needs".
I accomplished exactly what I was trying to do by running a second query and then inserting them into an array like this:
function countEachSkill(){
$return = array();
$query = "SELECT DISTINCT SKILL_ID, SKILL_NAME FROM PROJECT_NEEDS";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows($result);
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)){
$query = "SELECT COUNT(*) as COUNT FROM MEMBER_SKILLS WHERE SKILL_ID = '".$row['NEED_ID']."'";
$cResult = mysql_query($query);
$cRow = mysql_fetch_assoc($cResult);
$return[$row['SKILL_ID']]['Count'] = $cRow['COUNT'];
$return[$row['SKILL_ID']]['Name'] = $row['SKILL_NAME'];
}
arsort($return);
return $return;
}
But I feel like there has to be a better way (perhaps using some kind of join?) that would return this in a result set to avoid using the array.
Thanks in advance.
PS. I know mysql_ is depreciated. It is not my choice on which to use.

Answer 1

SELECT P.SKILL_ID, P.SKILL_NAME, COUNT(M.SKILL_ID) as COUNT FROM PROJECT_NEEDS P INNER JOIN MEMBER_SKILLS M
ON P.SKILL_ID=M.SKILL_ID
GROUP BY P.SKILL_ID, P.SKILL_NAME

Answer 2

I've adjusted Nriddens answer to accomodate for the select distinct, Im under the belief that his adjustment would be ok given SKILL_ID is a primary key
function countEachSkill(){
$return = array();
$query = "
SELECT
COUNT(*) AS COUNT,
PROJECT_NEEDS.SKILL_NAME,
PROJECT_NEEDS.SKILL_ID
FROM
(SELECT DISTINCT
SKILL_ID, SKILL_NAME
FROM
PROJECT_NEEDS) AS PROJECT_NEEDS
INNER JOIN
MEMBER_SKILLS
ON
MEMBER_SKILLS.SKILL_ID = PROJECT_NEEDS.SKILL_ID
GROUP BY PROJECT_NEEDS.SKILL_ID";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows($result);
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)){
$return[$row['SKILL_ID']]['Count'] = $row['COUNT'];
$return[$row['SKILL_ID']]['Name'] = $row['SKILL_NAME'];
}
arsort($return);
return $return;
I am subquerying on the select distinct because I dont believe you have a dedicated skills table with an auto inc primary key, if that was there I wouldn't be using a subquery.

Answer 3

Can you test this query
select project_needs.*,count(members_skills.*) as count from project_needs
inner join members_skills
on members_skills.skill_id=project_needs.skill_id Group by project_needs.skill_name, project_needs.skill_id