MySQL query has rows but doesn't have data?

[jcmoon]

This happens from time to time, and I can't figure out why. I'll set up a query, and mysql_query->rows will show that a certain number of rows of data were sent back ... but then I use mysql_query->fetchrow_array to loop through the rows, and nothing happens.

Strange. MySQL says a certain number of rows are returned, but then there's no data whatsoever.

I've looked at the query, I've troubleshoot'ed every which way, and yet this happens, repeatably (often it's when I want a single colum of all distinct values for a field).

Has any one else experienced this?

[jcmoon]

By the way, I have found a somewhat-reliable way around this issue, when it happens.

My intial query is this ...

SELECT DISTINCT field FROM table ORDER BY field

... and if I then change it to ...

SELECT field, COUNT( * ) FROM table GROUP BY field ORDER BY field

... it works fine (I just have to ignore the 2nd column in the resulting data).