Quickie: SELECT * FRM db WHERE table != '$var'

anthill

I want to select evrything from a table except certain values, say i have:
ID: item
1: ball
2: fridge
3: new
4: help

I want it to select 2, 3 andbut not 1. Obviously think of this database on a much larger scale.

Something like:
$var = 1;

SELECT * FROM db WHERE ID != '$var'

but this doesn't work, or:

SELECT * FROM db WHERE ID IS NOT '$var'

Any help is much appreciated

Ant

Roger_Ramjet

I assume by 'db' you mean the name of the table, not the database itself. If not then you need to read up about relational databases. There are some good articles on this site to help you.

Your query syntax looks OK for a mysql database, but the use of != is not standard and would not work with other db engines. The standard sql syntax for NOT EQUAL is <> and I would recomend that you stick to that for portability.


SELECT * FROM table WHERE id<>$var

comparison operators

Norman_Graham

Hi Ant

Would this work?

... WHERE ID <> '$var'

I suspect it might, assuming $var is always an integer. There's also a LIKE / NOT LIKE command in MySQL although it's more designed for pattern matching than for a straight yes/no comparison.

HTH

Norm

PS: That pesky Roger Ramjet got there before me. However, I'm pleased to see that great minds think alike.

Roger_Ramjet

PS integers do not need to be quoted in a query

scraff

Im not to sure why this wont work, it should! what results is it bringing up?

Is the field ID set as an int in the database?
if not, try: with "1":

mysql_connect($DBhost,$DBuser,$DBpass);
mysql_select_db("$DBName");

$table = "table";
$var = "1";

$query = @mysql_query(SELECT * FROM $table WHERE ID != '$var'");

while ($row=@mysql_fetch_array($query)) { 
echo $row[0];
}

anthill

Hi all, thanks very much for your help. I did get it working in the end. I didn't know about the <> syntax so thank you!