Will only accept numbers?!?

[output]

Im just getting my feet wet with php/mysql and having a little problem. Im using PHP 4.2.1 on a IIS platform.

I have made a very simpel Mysql database where there is 4 fields each is set as a varchar(). the PHP code is as following

if (isset($POST['submit'])) {
$sql = "INSERT INTO employees (first,last,address,position) VALUES ($POST[first],$POST[last],$POST[address],$_POST[position])";
$insertrec = mysql_query($sql);
if ($insertrec == false) echo mysql_error();
}

the data get inserted fine into the DB when I use numbers but when I use characters it says that Unknown column 'data i entered' in 'field list'

can anyone help me out?

[Anon]

Put single quotes around each of your value fields, i.e.
VALUES ('$POST[first]','$POST[last]','$POST[address]','$POST[position]')";

[thedotproduct]

the reason for this is spaces. If you have the value for address being "123 fake street", the command looks like: VALUES (first, last, 123 fake street, position).., which is causing the syntax error.

double quotes around the values work as well, if you have a lot of apostrophes or if you're very comfortable to using echo. Using double quotes, you can think, syntax-wise, the same way you would with any echo statement.

Check out the PHP functions addslashes() and removeslashes() to better format any text you might want to enter into a database.