define & use a constant in mysql query

[littleelmo]

Hi,
I've defined a constant.
at the beginning of my function.php file.

define ("CURRENT_SEMESTER", "fall 2001");

later on in the file (in a specific function) I want to use this constant in a mysql query.

$query = "SELECT DISTINCT $item FROM $table
WHERE semester = 'CURRENT_SEMESTER'";

But the query is just printing the word CURRENT_SEMESTER rather than the actual value.

How do I use this consant in my query? And, is there a way to declare this constant as a global variable so I can use in in other files?

thanks.

[znouza]

da best way is define this and other constants in separate INC file, and include it when needed.

eg.file "const.inc.php"
<?
$current_semester = 'fall 2001'
?>

and at the top of your main script:
include("const.inc.php");

if you'd like to refer to this constant inside any function(), you have to redeclare it as global, eg
function returndata(0
{
global $current_semester;
...code...
}

[littleelmo]

Thanks for you help Tom!!