mysql_query statement

[Anon]

PHP version 4.03 -
I have a function that determines which query to run on a mysql database. However, it always returns 0 results even though I know results are in there. Here's what I have:

$usertable = tablename;
$stval = userentry;
$lim = 0;

function nex($lim) {
global $usertable;
global $stval;
global $lim;
$query = "Select * from $usertable where issn1 like '%$stval%' order by issnum limit $lim, 10";
return $query;
}

$query = nex($lim);
$resultlst = mysql_query($query);
$number = mysql_num_rows($resultlst);

This always returns 0 matches. If I do it the following way it works but I need the query statement inside the function:

$resultlst = mysql_query("Select * from $usertable where issn1 like '%$stval%' order by issnum limit $lim, 10");

Can anyone help? I don't understand why this is not working. I do an echo $query after pulling the value from the function and the statement is being passed correctly.

I just starting using php about a week ago and thought maybe I was missing something. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

[steved]

it looks like your first two lines should either be

$usertable = "tablename";
$stval = "userentry";

OR

$usertable = $tablename;
$stval = $userentry;

[cheald]

Also, put any variable names (like $lim) in single quotes.

$query = "SELECT * FROM $usertable WHERE issn1 LIKE '%$stval%' ORDER BY issnum LIMIT '$lim', 10");

Also, try doing a

mysql_error($db);

where DB is the link ID that you got with mysql_connect. That'll tell you if you have an error.