mysql - PHP if query not behaving correctly -

i'm using if statement in php whereby if query empty doesn't run php effectivily hiding part of web page. if statement i'm using

if(!empty($result4)){  } 

it works fine elsewhere when used hide individual empty rows whole result when run whole query doesn't work.

this whole php code below if(!empty($result4)){ should not happen if query empty, is.

<?php  if(!empty($result4)){   printf('<h2>%s news' . php_eol, $row['name']);    $slaststory = ''; foreach ($result4 $row4) {     $sstory = $row4['headline'] . $row4['story'];     if (strcasecmp($sstory, $slaststory) != 0)     {         if (!empty($slaststory))         {          }         $slaststory = $sstory;           printf('<h3>%s</h3>' . php_eol, $row4['headline']);          printf('<h4>%s</h4>' . php_eol, $row4['displaydate']);          printf('<p>%s</p>' . php_eol, $row4['story']);     }  if(!empty($row4['url'])){    printf(' <a href="/images/%s%s.jpg" rel="lightbox[%s]" title="%s - credit - %s" > <img src="/images/%s%s-thumb.jpg" style="max-height: 230px; max-width: 230px" alt="%s"/></a>' . php_eol, $row4  ['url'], $row4['alt'], $row4['headline'],  $row4['description'],$row4['credit'], $row4['url'], $row4['alt'],   $row4['alt'] ); }  }  printf('  <br>  <hr> <a class="bloglink" href="parknews.php?park_id=%s">see %s news</a></li>' . php_eol, $park_id, $row  ['name']);  } ?> 

any ideas how make work?

if helps mysql query:

$park_id = $_get['park_id']; $query4= 'select headline, story, date_format(date, "%d-%m-%y") displaydate, url, alt, description, credit tpf_news  left join tpf_images on tpf_news.news_id = tpf_images.news_id  tpf_news.park_id = ' .  $park_id .' order date desc'; $result4 = $pdo->query($query4); 

thanks

if query succeeded, pdo::query() return pdostatement if no rows selected. since $result4 contains pdostatement, not empty.

a better way check number of returned rows pdostatement::rowcount:

if( $result4->rowcount() ){