Question

Im trying to count rows in a table. Currently im using this:

$sql = "SELECT COUNT(*) 
        FROM `friends` 
        WHERE `user1`='".$user1."' 
            AND `user2`='".$user2."' 
            AND `valid`=0 
        UNION 
        SELECT COUNT(*) 
        FROM `friends` 
        WHERE `user1`='".$user2."' 
            AND `user2`='".$user1."' 
            AND `valid`=0";

As you see, user1 can be both $user1 AND $user2. but it does not count the rows after the UNION, it only does the first query before UNION so im ending up with 0 when i actually should be counting 1 row.

How do I solve this?

Answer 1

Another alternative, replace your query with this:

$sql = "SELECT COUNT(*) 
    FROM `friends` 
    WHERE (
            (`user1`='".$user1."' AND `user2`='".$user2."') OR
            (`user1`='".$user2."' AND `user2`='".$user1."')
          )
     AND `valid`=0";