Example
In the previous chapter we created a table named "Persons", with three columns; "Firstname",
"Lastname" and "Age". We will use the same table in this example. The following example adds two
new records to the "Persons" table:
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
mysql_query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age)
VALUES ('Peter', 'Griffin',35)");
mysql_query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age)
VALUES ('Glenn', 'Quagmire',33)");
mysql_close($con);
?>
Insert Data From a Form Into a Database
Now we will create an HTML form that can be used to add new records to the "Persons" table.
Here is the HTML form:
<html>
<body>
<form action="insert.php" method="post">
Firstname: <input type="text" name="firstname" />
Lastname: <input type="text" name="lastname" />
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
When a user clicks the submit button in the HTML form in the example above, the form data is sent to
"insert.php".
The "insert.php" file connects to a database, and retrieves the values from the form with the PHP
$_POST variables.
Then, the mysql_query() function executes the INSERT INTO statement, and a new record will be
added to the "Persons" table.
Here is the "insert.php" page:
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
$sql="INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age)
VALUES
('$_POST[firstname]','$_POST[lastname]','$_POST[age]')";
if (!mysql_query($sql,$con))
{
die('Error: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo "1 record added";
mysql_close($con);
?>
The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.
Select Data From a Database Table
The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.
Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial.
To get PHP to execute the statement above we must use the mysql_query() function. This function is
used to send a query or command to a MySQL connection.
Example
The following example selects all the data stored in the "Persons" table (The * character selects all the
data in the table):
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Persons");
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
echo $row['FirstName'] . " " . $row['LastName'];
echo "<br />";
}
mysql_close($con);
?>
The example above stores the data returned by the mysql_query() function in the $result variable.
Next, we use the mysql_fetch_array() function to return the first row from the recordset as an array.
Each call to mysql_fetch_array() returns the next row in the recordset. The while loop loops through
all the records in the recordset. To print the value of each row, we use the PHP $row variable
($row['FirstName'] and $row['LastName']).
The output of the code above will be:
Peter Griffin
Glenn Quagmire
Display the Result in an HTML Table
The following example selects the same data as the example above, but will display the data in an
HTML table:
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Persons");
echo "<table border='1'>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
</tr>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>" . $row['FirstName'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row['LastName'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
mysql_close($con);
?>
The output of the code above will be:
Firstname Lastname
Glenn Quagmire
Peter Griffin
PHP MySQL The Where Clause
« Previous
Next Chapter »
The WHERE clause is used to filter records.
The WHERE clause
The WHERE clause is used to extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.
Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial.
To get PHP to execute the statement above we must use the mysql_query() function. This function is
used to send a query or command to a MySQL connection.
Example
The following example selects all rows from the "Persons" table where "FirstName='Peter'":
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE FirstName='Peter'");
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
echo $row['FirstName'] . " " . $row['LastName'];
echo "<br />";
}
?>
The output of the code above will be:
Peter Griffin
