inserting null values in mysql

[commandonz]

I'm trying to do the following:

$var = null

INSERT INTO table (col1, col2) values (1, $var)

It doesn't work, because it seems you need to say:

INSERT INTO table (col1, col2) values (1, NULL)

Is there a way to make the first one work? Otherwise i'll have to do all sorts of string manipulation to get it right 🙁

TIA

[TheDefender]

The latter is the way to go.. Why would you need to do any string manipulation other then rewriting some queries?

[commandonz]

What I meant by string manipulation is something like this (ignoring simple code errors):

$query = 'INSERT INTO table (col1, col2) values (1,';

if (strlen($val) > 0) { // or a null check, or something
$query .= $val;
} else {
$query .= 'NULL';
}

$query .= ')';

then execute it. Not a huge hastle, but if there's lots of parameters that could be null it's just a bit of typing, and more importantly it makes maintenance more difficult than if the insert did the NULL thing automatically.

If you have a better way i'm all ears 🙂

Thanks for your help 🙂