Mysql: Count the number of rows ina MySQL table

<?php
//connect to server with username and password, this is the default settings
//when MySQL is installed on Windows XP(Not recommended)
$connection = mysql_connect ("localhost","root", "") or die ("Cannot make the connection");
//connect to database
$db = mysql_select_db ("test",$connection) or die ("Cannot connect to database");
//our SQL query
$sql_query = "SELECT * FROM test";
//store the SQL query in the result variable
$result = mysql_query($sql_query);
$rows = mysql_num_rows($result);
//output total
echo $rows;

?>