Question

The Typo3 DB LIB has a method called exec_SELECTcountRows. The implementation looks like this:

/**
 * Counts the number of rows in a table.
 *
 * @param   string      $field: Name of the field to use in the 
                        COUNT() expression (e.g. '*')
 * @param   string      $table: Name of the table to count rows for
 * @param   string      $where: (optional) WHERE statement of the query
 * @return  mixed       Number of rows counter (integer) or 
                        false if something went wrong (boolean)
 */

public function exec_SELECTcountRows($field, $table, $where = '') {
    $count = FALSE;
    $resultSet = $this->exec_SELECTquery('COUNT(' . $field . ')', $table, $where);
    if ($resultSet !== FALSE) {
        list($count) = $this->sql_fetch_row($resultSet);
        $this->sql_free_result($resultSet);
    }
    return $count;
}

Question:

Is the return type of exec_SELECTcountRows truly an integer or rather a string containing one?

Answer 1

Actually you’re right. The PHPdoc differs from the behavior (as mysql functions return the value as string).

I filed a bug report, as I think this should be changed to return a true integer.