What are the differences between using "SELECT MAX()" and "SELECT * ORDER BY ... DESC LIMIT 0,1" to retrieve the highest value in PHP?

When retrieving the highest value in PHP, using "SELECT MAX()" is more efficient and straightforward compared to using "SELECT * ORDER BY ... DESC LIMIT 0,1". The "SELECT MAX()" function directly returns the maximum value from a specific column in a database table, while the latter method involves fetching all rows, sorting them in descending order, and then limiting the result to just one row, which can be less efficient for large datasets. Therefore, it is recommended to use "SELECT MAX()" for better performance and simplicity. 

// Using SELECT MAX() to retrieve the highest value
$query = "SELECT MAX(column_name) AS max_value FROM table_name";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);
$row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
$max_value = $row['max_value'];
echo "The highest value is: " . $max_value;

Keywords

SELECT MAX SELECT * ORDER BY DESC LIMIT

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