Question

How can I do this in a better way?

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM table WHERE region='example1'");
$num_rows_example1 = mysql_num_rows($query);    

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM table WHERE region='example2'");
$num_rows_example2 = mysql_num_rows($query);    

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM table WHERE region='example3'");
$num_rows_example3 = mysql_num_rows($query);    

Maybe with an Array and Foreach?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Your query could be

SELECT region, count(*) as num_regions FROM table GROUP BY region

And now you only have one query to perform, which returns the number of rows for each region!

Now you can perform some PHP magic using your array of

$regions = array('example1', 'example2', 'example3');

foreach ($regions as $region) {
    // do something with the MySQL result
}

PLEASE NOTE You should stop using mysql_* functions. They’re being deprecated. Instead use PDO (supported as of PHP 5.1) or mysqli (supported as of PHP 4.1). If you’re not sure which one to use, read this SO article.