I need to use a variable for the table name in a sql query

jeff_borden

hi i need some help with this,

i've done some research on this and the only thing i came up with is that dynamic sql is the only way to use a variable for table name. Is this true??? If so, how would you do that with the following code?

$db = $SESSION['User'];
$db = $db . "buddies";

$online_query = "select buddy_name from $db WHERE online= 'n'";

any help is truly appreciated. thanks in advance....

dlc

n2solving

If you have the first portion of your table name stored in the $_SESSION["User"] variable, then it works:

i.e. if you have a table named foo_buddies, and the value of $_SESSION["User"] = "foo", then your code works.

jeff_borden

that's what i thought,

but when i execute the code i get the following error:

Warning: Supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource

jeff_borden

yea i have a table named 'jeff_buddies'

nnichols

When you execute your query do it like this, then it should give you meaningful error message -

$db = $_SESSION['User']; 
$db = $db . "_buddies"; 

$online_query = "select buddy_name from $db WHERE online= 'n'";

$res = mysql_query($online_query, $db) or die('MySQL error: ' . mysql_error() . '<br>Query: ' . $online_query);

Hope this helps 😉