Help with row delete

[phpnewbie911]

Hi everyone,
I new to php and Mysql. My problem is that I created a script to delete a subscriber by email address. The email variable is coming from another page by form method post. It does what its suppose to do(deletes row), but I still receive an error message plus I know it could be cleaned up. Could someone point out what I am doing wrong and how I can clean it up. I'm barely understanding how to pull the results down without echoing and using it for other queries. This is my script and the error message:

<?php
if (isset($submit)) { 
// do stuff 
} 

$dbh=mysql_connect ("localhost", "myusername", "mypassword") or die ('I cannot connect to the 

database because: ' . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db ("mydb");

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM news WHERE email='$email'"); //select all the 

email address that equals varible
    while($r=mysql_fetch_array($result)) //run the while loop
    {

    $id=$r["id"];//take out the id


{
    $sql = "DELETE FROM news WHERE id=$id"; //delete from table using varable id
    $result = mysql_query($sql);
    echo "$email has been Successfully removed from NEWS LIST.";//acknowledge removal
}
"<BR>";
  }

  mysql_close ($dbh);//close connection
?>

It work but this is the error message:

Newsletter

[e-mail] has been Successfully removed from NEWS LIST.
Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/xxxxxx/public_html/remove.php on line 17

Thanks In Advance & Happy Holidays!

[nnichols]

Try this. I have changed it so that you do not have multiple database calls. Having unnecessary database calls is wasted processing overhead.

You will also notice that I have changed some of your "double quotes" to 'single quotes', this is to avoid php having to parse strings unnecessarily.

<?php
if (isset($submit)) { 
// do stuff 
} 

$dbh=mysql_connect ('localhost', 'myusername', 'mypassword')
	or die ('I cannot connect to the database because: ' . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db ('mydb');

$result = mysql_query("DELETE FROM news WHERE email='$email'");
if ($result) {
	echo "$email has been successfully removed from NEWS LIST.";//acknowledge removal
}
else {
	echo "Failed to remove $email from NEWS LIST.";
}

mysql_close ($dbh);//close connection
?>

Hope this helps 😉

[phpnewbie911]

Thank you nnichols!
It works like a charm with no errors. By reading so much info, its hard to focus on a standard. From examples that I read I thought you had to do a select query first, if you don't have an id because that is what you needed to delete a complete row. Thats what I get for THINKING so hard.

Also your help with the insert script turned out fine. I took your advice and used the date/timestamp, removing quotes from the now() function, and passed my auto_increment as an empty string.
We can really learn something in this world with the help of good people like you sharing the knowledge. Thanks again!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
😉