[php] SELECT with LIMIT in Codeigniter

I have a site develop in Codeigniter, and in my model I have a function like this:

function nationList($limit=null, $start=null) {
    if ($this->session->userdata('language')=="it")
    $this->db->select('nation.id, nation.name_it as name');
    if ($this->session->userdata('language')=="en")
    $this->db->select('nation.id, nation.name_en as name');
    $this->db->from('nation');
    $this->db->order_by("name", "asc");
    $this->db->limit($limit, $start);
    $query = $this->db->get();
    $nation = array();
    foreach ($query->result() as $row)
        array_push($nation, $row);

    return $nation;     
}

And if into my controller I call the function without limit and start doesn't return result like this:

$data["nationlist"] = $this->Nation_model->nationList();

Instead if I set limit and start works! If limit and start are null, Why doesn't return result? I don't want to make a second function or a control if limit and start are null. How can I solve this when limit and start are null without a control or a second function to make useful the code and more efficient?

For further visitors:

// Executes: SELECT * FROM mytable LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20
// get([$table = ''[, $limit = NULL[, $offset = NULL]]])
$query = $this->db->get('mytable', 10, 20);

// get_where sample, 
$query = $this->db->get_where('mytable', array('id' => $id), 10, 20);

// Produces: LIMIT 10
$this->db->limit(10);  

// Produces: LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20
// limit($value[, $offset = 0])
$this->db->limit(10, 20);

I don't know what version of CI you were using back in 2013, but I am using CI3 and I just tested with two null parameters passed to limit() and there was no LIMIT or OFFSET in the rendered query (I checked by using get_compiled_select()).

This means that -- assuming your have correctly posted your coding attempt -- you don't need to change anything (or at least the old issue is no longer a CI issue).

If this was my project, this is how I would write the method to return an indexed array of objects or an empty array if there are no qualifying rows in the result set.

function nationList($limit = null, $start = null) {
    // assuming the language value is sanitized/validated/whitelisted
    return $this->db
        ->select('nation.id, nation.name_' . $this->session->userdata('language') . ' AS name')
        ->from('nation')
        ->order_by("name")
        ->limit($limit, $start)
        ->get()
        ->result();
}

These refinements remove unnecessary syntax, conditions, and the redundant loop.

For reference, here is the CI core code:

/**
 * LIMIT
 *
 * @param   int $value  LIMIT value
 * @param   int $offset OFFSET value
 * @return  CI_DB_query_builder
 */
public function limit($value, $offset = 0)
{
    is_null($value) OR $this->qb_limit = (int) $value;
    empty($offset) OR $this->qb_offset = (int) $offset;

    return $this;
}

So the $this->qb_limit and $this->qb_offset class objects are not updated because null evaluates as true when fed to is_null() or empty().