alter table sql not working

[viveleroi0]

I have a table that I want to add a new column to once a day.

phpMyAdmin works fine and produces the following sql code for php:

$updateTable = 'ALTER TABLE `avg_tracking` ADD `2004-11-02` INT NOT NULL';

The ` character seems to be the only reason this works in PHP - changing this character to a normal quote or single quote will not work.

I want the table name and the column name to come from variables, but no matter what I do it causes errors. No variables can be used in side the ` character. I have tried tons of variations of this:

$date1 = "2004-11-02";

$updateTable = "ALTER TABLE avg_tracking ADD $date1 INT NOT NULL";
$run_UpdateTable = mysql_query($updateTable);

I have tried single quotes, double quotes, backslashed single and double quotes - but it always says there is an SQL error "near 2004-11-02 INT NOT NULL'

what am I doing wrong?

[devinemke]

$date1 = '2004-11-02';
$result = mysql_query("ALTER TABLE avg_tracking ADD `$date1` INT NOT NULL") or exit(mysql_error());
if ($result) {echo 'ALTER table OK';}

[viveleroi0]

How would I count the number of times a specific number occurrs in an array?

I know how to see if it's in the array, I just need to know how many times.

[devinemke]

uh...i guess we're changing topics here...but ok:
[man]array_count_values[/man]