Displaying number of items in mysql database

Hi can any one tell me please why i keep getting a value of 2 when i include this scipt (i know i have over 200 items)it works fine from a mysql prompt as select count(FIELD) from table; gives correct result
but this in php gives a result of 2 ?


$item_count = "SELECT count(FIELD)FROM table";


$item_result = mysql_query($item_count)
or die("Couldn't get count");

if ($item_result == "1") {
echo "<strong>1</strong> item.";
} else {
echo "<strong>$item_result</strong> items.";
}

I think you still need to use,
mysql_fetch_array.

eg,

$item_count = "SELECT count(FIELD) AS numbers FROM table";

$item_result = mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query($item_count))
or die("Couldn't get count");

if ($item_result['numbers'] == "1") {
echo "<strong>1</strong> item.";
} else {
echo "<strong>$item_result['numbers']</strong> items.";
}

good luck,
scoobydoo

Hi scoobydoo thanks for replying, i tried this and got the following error:

Parse error: parse error, expecting `STRING' or `NUM_STRING' or `'$'' in

oops.. sorry marcus.. made a big mistake
it's $item_result["numbers"]

" not the '

scoobydoo

Hi scoobydoo , i made the changes but still get the same error?

The result your getting is the integet id of the result, not the result itself. For example, if I run a query against the database
$connection = mysql_connnect($host,$user,$pwd);
echo $connection; // This will be an integer identifier for a php connection
$result = mysql_query("select * from customers", $connection);
echo $connection; // This will be an integer identifier for a php result set

// Now you need to get the data out of the result set....

$last_name = mysql_result($result, 0, "last_name"); // where 0 is the first row in the result set

// So to get your query to work properly,
//you need to read out the result as I did
//above but remember to name the field
//otherwise you have to access it by offset
//and not by name

$result = mysql_query("select count(*) as mycount from customers", $connection);

$thecount = mysql_result($result,0,"mycount");

// or if you leave out the as in the sql:

$result = mysql_query("select count(*)from customers", $connection);

$thecount = mysql_result($result,0,0);

// You can also use mysql_fetch_array which
//moves a whole result set into an array
//which you can then manipulate in php.

mssql_fetch_array($result);