What are the potential pitfalls of using mysql_num_rows to count the number of rows in a MySQL result set in PHP?

Using `mysql_num_rows` to count the number of rows in a MySQL result set in PHP can be inefficient and may not work as expected in certain situations. It is recommended to use `mysqli_num_rows` or `PDOStatement::rowCount` instead, as they are more reliable and provide better performance.

// Connect to MySQL database using mysqli
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Execute query
$result = $mysqli->query("SELECT * FROM table");

// Check if query was successful
if($result) {
    // Get number of rows
    $num_rows = $result->num_rows;
    
    // Output number of rows
    echo "Number of rows: " . $num_rows;
} else {
    // Handle query error
    echo "Error executing query: " . $mysqli->error;
}

// Close connection
$mysqli->close();