CodeIgniter 2 Cookbook

Counting the number of returned results with num_rows()

It's useful to count the number of results returned—often bugs can arise if a section of the code that expects to have at least one row is passed with zero rows. Without handling the eventuality of a zero result, an application may become unpredictably unstable and may give away hints to a malicious user about the architecture of the app. Ensuring correct handling of zero results is what we're going to focus on here.

How to do it...

1. We're going to create a block of code for a model and controller. You may already have code in a controller, model, or view that does all or some of the following—obviously, you can skip any step that you do not need. Add or adapt the ensuing code into your controller: ...