Usiing LIKE '$var%' in a query ??

[Monkee_Of_Evil]

Ok i'm writing a dictionary program for my website and I want to be able to sort the pages by Letter. So i set up a variable named $sort and then set up some if statements to to handle if the person wanted to see the latest entries, all the entries, or view them by letter.

		else
			{
				echo($sort);
				// SELECT * FROM `p2p_dict` WHERE dict_term LIKE '$sort%'
				$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM 'p2p_dict' WHERE 'dict_term' LIKE $sort%");
				while( $row = mysql_fetch_array($query) );
					{
						// Truncate messages to X length
						$str_def_len = strlen($termdef);
						if($str_def_len >= 50)
							{
								$termdef = strip_tags($termdef);
								$termdef = substr($termdef,0,75);
								$termdef = $termdef . "...";
							}
						echo('<a href="dictionary.php?word=' . $tid . '"><b>' . $dictterm . '</b></a> - ' . $termdef .'<br />');
					}
			}

Thats what I did, although I'm not sure why it doesn't work. It says theres a problem with the query but i can't figure it out.

http://www.napjunk.net/dictionary/dictionary.php?word=

oh btw, it's been a while since i posted last but I'd like to say thanks to y'all cause i've learned a bunch just by lurking around the board. 🙂

[barand]

You put the single quotes around $sort% in your comment line then left them out of the query string!

[Monkee_Of_Evil]

yeah i just tried that and it still doesn't work. here's the error messege:

You have an error in your SQL syntax near ''p2p_dict' WHERE 'dict_term' LIKE 'f%' ' at line 1

		else
			{
				// SELECT * FROM `p2p_dict` WHERE dict_term LIKE '$sort%'
				$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM 'p2p_dict' WHERE 'dict_term' LIKE '$sort%' ") or die(mysql_error());
				while( $row = mysql_fetch_array($query) or die(mysql_error()) );
					{
						// Truncate messages to X length
						$str_def_len = strlen($termdef);
						if($str_def_len >= 50)
							{
								$termdef = strip_tags($termdef);
								$termdef = substr($termdef,0,75);
								$termdef = $termdef . "...";
							}
						echo('<a href="dictionary.php?word=' . $tid . '"><b>' . $dictterm . '</b></a> - ' . $termdef .'<br />');
					}
			}

i dunno, i can't figure out why its bombing out on me :\

[jeremuck]

Try carefully checking the spelling of the field and table names.
Also try using ` (backtick near escape) instead of ' (single quotes). (or try using none at all).

[batman]

Try using this for your query:

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM p2p_dict WHERE (dict_term like '%$sort%')");

Let me know if that works,
-Blake

[Norman_Graham]

I've never come across a mysql query in which you put the table and field names in quotes - it's just p2p_dict and dict_term, not 'p2p_dict' and 'dict_term'.

I'm sure this will cause a problem.

Norm

[Pests]

I don't believe you put column names in qoutes. You should though, put qoutes around the data so its not confused with feild names.