Problem with db column headings

[prouski]

I'm having real problems with column headings which contain dashes. I have a table with column headings such as 'semi-detached'. When I try to insert/update the tables I get an insert error, which appears to be be due to the dash. The code is along the following lines:

$query = "UPDATE $dbtable set semi-detached='Y' WHERE id=3";

I've tried set 'semi-detached'='Y' but the error still appears.

Is there a correct format for this, or are such column headings a no-no?

[LordShryku]

Such column headings are a no-no. You should be using underscores instead. How in MySQL supposed to know if that's a column or a mathmatical operation(subtraction)? The workaround would be to surround your column names with backticks(`) in your SQL.