Proper way to ask if mysql_num_rows in PHP

Question

Because mysql_num_rows returns false if there are no rows returned, would it be best to do:

$query = mysql_query("SELECT id FROM table WHERE something = 'this'"); 
$result = mysql_num_rows($query);

if ($result) { }

Or should I do:

if ($result >= 1) { }

Answer 1

The proper one

$result = mysql_query("SELECT id FROM table WHERE something = 'this'"); 
if (mysql_num_rows($result)){
    //there are results
}

however, you could do this easier, without checking

$result = mysql_query("SELECT id FROM table WHERE something = 'this'"); 
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
    //there are results
}

Please. Give your variables proper names