debugging query using print or echo

[gordonisgod]

I know there is a simple answer. I'm trying to print my query to the screen using the following:

$delete_query = mysql_query("DELETE from EMPLOYEE
WHERE (EMPLOYEE.employeeid = '$employeeid'");

print $delete_query;

But my delete_query doesn't print. How can I print m query?

Also, why should I use echo instead of print?

TIA

[cgraz]

$delete_query holds hte result of your executed query, it's not a string. You have to make it a string, and execute it seperately if you want to print it.

$delete_query = "DELETE from EMPLOYEE WHERE EMPLOYEE.employeeid = '$employeeid'"; 
$result = mysql_query($delete_query) or die(mysql_error());

print $delete_query;

It really makes no difference if you use echo or print in this case.

But print returns true or false, which means you can use it in an if statement, whereas echo, if i'm not mistaken, doesn't.

Cgraz

[paul088]

You meant:

<?
print $result;
?>

[cgraz]

No. . . I didn't mean that. Why would he want to print that result variable? It doesn't hold the string that gets executed, $delete_query does, and mysql_error() will print out any errors that executing the string caused.

He wants to print the string most likely so he can see what it looks like when it gets executed.

Cgraz

[BuzzLY]

It seems like he wanted to print the results of the query... if so, you have to do mysql_fetch_array, then print_r the results to view them. Of course, if you had a million records, that would be a very large web page 😃

[gordonisgod]

Cgraz is correct, I want to print the string most likely so I can see what it looks like when it gets executed.

Thanks.

gg