the best way to know that a table isn't empty

[jjshell]

Hi,

I'm looking for the most efficient way to know if a table isn't empty. So far, I just queried it, gathered the result and checked if it was empty or not.

Is there a more efficient way to do it?

Regards,

-jj.

[r937]

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM daTable

alternatively,

SELECT acolumn FROM daTable LIMIT 1

[longneck]

select count(*) from datable is best for myisam tables and can be horrible for innodb, but select acolumn from datable limit 1 is very good for myisam tables and best for innodb tables.

so use the second form.

[webcosmo]

how about

select top 1 myColumn from myTable

Is there any difference over cout(*)?

[r937]

yes, there is a difference

also, TOP doesn't work in mysql