Best way to test if a row exists in a MySQL table

I'm trying to find out if a row exists in a table. Using MySQL, is it better to do a query like this:

SELECT COUNT(*) AS total FROM table1 WHERE ...

and check to see if the total is non-zero or is it better to do a query like this:

SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE ... LIMIT 1

and check to see if any rows were returned?

In both queries, the WHERE clause uses an index.

You could also try EXISTS:

SELECT EXISTS(SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE ...)

and per the documentation, you can SELECT anything.

Traditionally, an EXISTS subquery starts with SELECT *, but it could begin with SELECT 5 or SELECT column1 or anything at all. MySQL ignores the SELECT list in such a subquery, so it makes no difference.

I have made some researches on this subject recently. The way to implement it has to be different if the field is a TEXT field, a non unique field.

I have made some tests with a TEXT field. Considering the fact that we have a table with 1M entries. 37 entries are equal to 'something':

• SELECT * FROM test WHERE text LIKE '%something%' LIMIT 1 with mysql_num_rows() : 0.039061069488525s. (FASTER)
• SELECT count(*) as count FROM test WHERE text LIKE '%something% : 16.028197050095s.
• SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM test WHERE text LIKE '%something%') : 0.87045907974243s.
• SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM test WHERE text LIKE '%something%' LIMIT 1) : 0.044898986816406s.

But now, with a BIGINT PK field, only one entry is equal to '321321' :

• SELECT * FROM test2 WHERE id ='321321' LIMIT 1 with mysql_num_rows() : 0.0089840888977051s.
• SELECT count(*) as count FROM test2 WHERE id ='321321' : 0.00033879280090332s.
• SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM test2 WHERE id ='321321') : 0.00023889541625977s.
• SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM test2 WHERE id ='321321' LIMIT 1) : 0.00020313262939453s. (FASTER)

A short example of @ChrisThompson's answer

Example:

mysql> SELECT * FROM table_1;
+----+--------+
| id | col1   |
+----+--------+
|  1 | foo    |
|  2 | bar    |
|  3 | foobar |
+----+--------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM table_1 WHERE id = 1);
+--------------------------------------------+
| EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM table_1 WHERE id = 1) |
+--------------------------------------------+
|                                          1 |
+--------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM table_1 WHERE id = 9);
+--------------------------------------------+
| EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM table_1 WHERE id = 9) |
+--------------------------------------------+
|                                          0 |
+--------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Using an alias:

mysql> SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM table_1 WHERE id = 1) AS mycheck;
+---------+
| mycheck |
+---------+
|       1 |
+---------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

In my research, I can find the result getting on following speed.

select * from table where condition=value
(1 total, Query took 0.0052 sec)

select exists(select * from table where condition=value)
(1 total, Query took 0.0008 sec)

select count(*) from table where condition=value limit 1) 
(1 total, Query took 0.0007 sec)

select exists(select * from table where condition=value limit 1)
(1 total, Query took 0.0006 sec)