What is the difference between using SELECT * and SELECT COUNT(*) in a MySQL query in PHP?

When using SELECT *, the query will return all columns of the selected rows from the database. On the other hand, when using SELECT COUNT(*), the query will return the total number of rows that match the specified condition. It is important to use SELECT * when you want to retrieve all columns of the selected rows, and SELECT COUNT(*) when you want to retrieve the total count of rows. 

// Using SELECT *
$query = "SELECT * FROM table_name";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Using SELECT COUNT(*)
$query = "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name WHERE condition = 'value'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);
$count = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)['COUNT(*)'];

Keywords

PHP MySQL SELECT * SELECT COUNT(*) query

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