What is my last row_number in mysql query? - php

Question

I have a query like this:
$sql = "SELECT * FROM doctors WHERE city ='$city' LIMIT 10 ";
$result = $db->query($sql);
And I show the result like this :
while($row = $result->fetch_object()){
echo $row->city;
}
The Problem :
Mysql , will search through my database to find 10 rows which their city field is similar to $city.
so far it is OK;
But I want to know what is the exact row_number of the last result , which mysql selected and I echoed it ?
( I mean , consider with that query , Mysql selected 10 rows in my database
where row number are:
FIRST = 1
Second = 5
Third = 6
Forth = 7
Fifth = 40
Sixth = 41
Seventh = 42
Eitghth = 100
Ninth = 110
AND **last one = 111**
OK?
I want to know where is place of this "last one"????
)

Answer 1

MySQL databases do not have "row numbers". Rows in the database do not have an inherent order and thereby no "row number". If you select 10 rows from the database, then the last row's "number" is 10. If each row has a field with a primary id, then use that field as its "absolute row number".

Answer 2

You could let the loop run and track values. When the loop ends, you will have the last value. Like so:
while($row = $result->fetch_object()){
echo $row->city;
$last_city = $row->city;
}
/* use $last_city; */
To get the row number in the Original Table of the last resultant (here, tenth) row, you could save the data from the tenth row and then, do the following:
1. Read whole table
2. Loop through the records, checking them against the saved data
3. Break loop as soon as data found.
Like So:
while($row = $result->fetch_object()){
echo $row->city;
$last_row = $row;
}
Now, rerun the query without filters:
$sql = "SELECT * FROM doctors";
$result = $db->query($sql);
$rowNumber = 0;
while($row = $result->fetch_object()) {
if($row == $last_row) break;
$rowNumber++;
}
/* use $rowNumber */
Hope this helps.

Answer 3

What you can do is $last = $row->id; (or whatever field you want) inside your while loop - it will keep getting reassigned with the end result being that it contains the value of the last row.

Answer 4

You could do something like this:
$rowIndex = 0;
$rowCount = mysqli_num_rows($result);
You'd be starting a counter at zero and detecting the total number of records retrieved.
Then, as you step through the records, you could increment your counter.
while ( $row = $result->fetch_object() ) {
$rowIndex++;
[other code]
}
Inside the While Loop, you could check to see whether the rowIndex is equal to the rowCount, as in...
if ($rowIndex == $rowCount) {
[your code]
}
I know this is a year+ late, but I completely why Andy was asking his question. I frequently need to know this information. For instance, let's say you're using PHP to echo results in a nice HTML format. Obviously, you wouldn't need to know the record result index in the case of simply starting and ending a div, because you could start the div before the loop, and close it at the end. However, knowing where you are in the result set might affect some styling decisions (e.g., adding particular classes to the first and/or last rows).
I had one case in which I used a GROUP BY query and inserted each set of records into its own tabbed card. A user could click the tabs to display each set. I wanted to know when I was building the last tab, so that I could designate it as being selected (i.e., the one with the focus). The tab was already built by the time the loop ended, so I needed to know while inside of the loop (which was more efficient than using JavaScript to change the tab's properties after the fact).