Re: Autonumber - how do i find out what has been entered

[Jonathan Stephens]

Use

SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();

to get the most recent AUTO_INCREMENT value assigned during the current session regardless of which table the INSERT took place in (note that this changes as soon as you perform another INSERT, regardless of which table is involved)

or

SELECT MAX(id) FROM mytable;

to get the greatest id value in mytable whether or not it was set during the current session.

LAST_INSERT_ID() is probably a bit faster.

Note that these are MySQL functions, and not PHP functions.

You might find this helpful: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/getting-unique-id.html

Jon Stephens
MySQL Documentation Team @ Oracle

MySQL Dev Zone
MySQL Server Documentation
Oracle