Selecting a specific row from a table

Question

How can I select a particular row from a table?

I want to do achieve something like the following:

select * from 
    (select * from tablename1 where type=1 order by id desc) 
where rownum = 5

select * from 
    (select * from tablename1 where type=1 order by id desc) 
where rownum = $variable

Answer 1

Use the LIMIT keyword:

SELECT * FROM tablename WHERE (stuff...) LIMIT $rownum,1;

If you pass 2 numbers to LIMIT, it treats the first as an offset and the second as a number of results to return (whereas if you pass only 1 number, it just treats it as a number of results). Thus asking for LIMIT $rownum,1 you'll get back only one row, which is the one at position $rownum (keep in mind that rows are indexed starting from 0).