What Is a Result Set Object? - MySQL FAQs - Managing Tables and Running Queries with PHP Scripts

A result set object is a logical representation of data rows returned by mysql_query() function on SELECT statements. Every result set object has an internal pointer used to identify the current row in the result set. Once you get a result set object, you can use the following functions to retrieve detail information:

• mysql_free_result($res) - Closes this result set object.
• mysql_num_rows($res) - Returns the number rows in the result set.
• mysql_num_fields($res) - Returns the number fields in the result set.
• mysql_fetch_row($res) - Returns an array contains the current row indexed by field position numbers.
• mysql_fetch_assoc($res) - Returns an array contains the current row indexed by field names.
• mysql_fetch_array($res) - Returns an array contains the current row with double indexes: field position numbers and filed names.
• mysql_fetch_lengths($res) - Returns an array contains lengths of all fields in the last row returned.
• mysql_field_name($res, $i) - Returns the name of the field of the specified index.