how to display NULL if necessary

__greg

at http://www.lastlifemedia.com/reviews you can see what i am working on...

with each row in mysql, i have a firstname and an lastname. in the firstname section i either put "The" or the artist's first name. in the lastname section, i put the band name (ie. Radiohead) or the artist's last name (ie. Waits). If there is a band without a "The" or anything, I leave the firstname section blank.

I'm trying to have it so that if there is both firstname and lastname, it will display (for example):
Tom Waits

BUT..

if there is NO firstname, it will only display the lastname (for example):
Radiohead

I don't know if there is a way if the firstname section is blank, to have it display nothing, but that's what im trying to do. any ideas?

Here's what im currently doing, but it's not doing the trick (its putting a space before the lastname, even if there is no firstname):

echo ("<tr><td valign='middle' width='100%' bgcolor='whitesmoke'><a href=reviews.php?gs=o&ID=".$row["rev_id"]. " target=review><b>" .$row["rev_firstname"] . "&nbsp;" .$row["rev_artist"] . "</b><br>" .$row["rev_title"]."</a></td></tr>

cgraz

how about an if statement?

<?

if(strlen($row["firstname"]) >= 1) {
   $name = $row["firstname"] . " " . $row["lastname"];
} else {
   $name $row["firstname"];
}

# then just echo $name wherever you want it. 
# It will contain the value of firstname and last name 
# (or just lastname if no firstname value).
# make sure to change the variable names to suit your code.

?>

Cgraz