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When i check the number of records in a MySQL table using "show table status like 'table_name", the number of rows given is different from the number of rows when i run "select count(*)" on the same table.
I would like to know why the number is different, and what each number means.
I found out why from the MySQL Documentation:
The number of rows. Some storage engines, such as MyISAM, store the exact count. For other storage engines, such as InnoDB, this value is an approximation, and may vary from the actual value by as much as 40% to 50%. In such cases, use SELECT COUNT(*) to obtain an accurate count.
The Rows value is NULL for INFORMATION_SCHEMA tables.
For InnoDB tables, the row count is only a rough estimate used in SQL optimization. (This is also true if the InnoDB table is partitioned.)
