Finding a sum/total from mysql db

RS_SS350

I have created a simple invitation application using php and mysql - it allows people to RSVP with how many people in their party... I need to get a total from the field called 'guest' for all the people who RSVP "yes"...

so, i'm thinking the query needs to be like this:

<?	$result = mysql_query("SELECT guest FROM rsvp WHERE status ='yes'",$db); ?>

but now i don't know how to get the total using the 'guest' number from each row returned...

THANKS IN ADVANCE! 🙂

Roger_Ramjet

select sum(guest) from ...

RS_SS350

ok, so this is what i came up with...

<?  $result = mysql_query("SELECT SUM(guest) FROM rsvp WHERE status ='yes'");
				$a = array($result);
				$total = array_sum($a);
				echo $total?>

this gets the result that I was looking for, but i'm wondering if it's efficient or is there a better way to arrive at this?

(please excuse my ignorance, I am somewhat of a newbie)

Thanks

RS_SS350

actually, that didn't work either.... at first it brought back the correct number, but then the math was totally off... i can't figure out what is going on..

Roger_Ramjet

Strict SQL syntax would be

<?  

$sql = "SELECT SUM(guest) as total FROM rsvp
            GROUP BY status 
            WHERE status ='yes'";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
if ($result) { 
   $row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
   echo $row['total'];
}
?>

RS_SS350

Thanks ROger!

that worked, but I had to remove the 'GROUP BY status' part of the sql in order to get a result - do you know why that would be the case?

Roger_Ramjet

Yes. Because I forgot to include status in the select field list, sorry.