How do i simplify this code?

[lives4him06]

The goal of this code is to display the 'previous' button only if there are more than 0 entries left in the MySQL database. And only display the forward button if there are fields remaining to be displayed. And to display the correct results:

<?php

//function to return the 'privious' link
function previ($start,$howmany)
{

    if ($howmany != 0)
    {
            $start = $start - 5;
            if ($start > 0 )
            {
            $previ = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=5'>Previous</a>";
            }
            elseif ($start < 0 )
            {
            $howmany = 5 + $start;
            $start = 0;
            $previ = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=$howmany'>Previous</a>";
            }
            else
            {
            $previ = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=$howmany'>Previous</a>";
            }
    }
    else
    {
    $previ = "";
    }
    return $previ;

}
//function to return the 'forward' link
function forw($start,$howmany,$count)
{
$start = $start + 5;
if ($start < $count )
{
$forw = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=5'>Forward</a>";
}
elseif ($howmany > $count )
{
$forw = "";
}
Else
{
$forw = "";
}

    return $forw;

}
?>

[nemonoman]

Your old code with my comments:

<?php

//function to return the 'privious' link
function previ($start,$howmany)
{
//?? isn't howmany always = 5??
if ($howmany != 0)
{
$start = $start - 5;
if ($start > 0 )
{
$previ = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=5'>Previous</a>";
}
elseif ($start < 0 )
{ //Is there really 3 different conditions? $start>0, $start==0, $start<0 ?
$howmany = 5 + $start;
$start = 0;
$previ = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=$howmany'>Previous</a>";
}
else
{ //$start==0
$previ = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=$howmany'>Previous</a>";
}
}
else
{
$previ = "";
}
return $previ;
}
//function to return the 'forward' link
function forw($start,$howmany,$count)
{
$start = $start + 5;
if ($start < $count )
{
$forw = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=5'>Forward</a>";
}
elseif ($howmany > $count )
{ // this should be $start>=$count: $howmany is always 5 or something, right?
$forw = "";
}
Else
{
$forw = "";
}

return $forw;
}
?>

//MY takes below:

function previ($start, $howmany){
$previ="";
if($start>=$howmany){
$start=$start-$howmany;
$previ = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=$howmany'>Previous</a>";
}
return $previ;
}

function forw($start,$howmany,$count)
{
$forw="";
if (($start + $howmany )<=$count )
{
$forw = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=$howmany'>Forward</a>";
}

return $forw;
}

[lives4him06]

the solution turned out to be:

function previ($start,$howmany)
{
        if ($howmany != 0)
        {
                if ($start<=0){//at the beginning of list already -- can't go any further
                        $previ="";
                }
                elseif($start < 5 ) // this move will put us at the beginning of the list.
                {                   // Only display the messages not displayed in the last webpage.
                        $previ = "<a href='allmess.php?start=0&howmany=$start'>Previous</a>";
                }
                else // we're in the middle somewhere -- just move back 5 and display.
                {
                        $start = $start - 5;
                        $previ = "<a href='allmess.php?start=$start&howmany=5'>Previous</a>";
                }
        }
        else
        {
                $previ = "";
        }
        return $previ;
}