Finding Table Info

obrienkev

Hi all,

I want to find out the field names of each table column. How do I display it on a PHP page??

Tried using DESCRIBE but doesn't display the data.

$query = "DESCRIBE EMPLOYEES_Registered";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());

Roger_Ramjet

resource mysql_list_fields ( string database_name, string table_name [, resource link_identifier] )

Retrieves information about the given table name.

This function is deprecated. It is preferable to use mysql_query() to issue a SQL SHOW COLUMNS FROM table [LIKE 'name'] statement instead.

Or, just use mysql_fetch_array on the resultset and do foreach($result as $key=>$val) to get field names : $key

BigE

Roger Ramjet wrote:
resource mysql_list_fields ( string database_name, string table_name [, resource link_identifier] )

Retrieves information about the given table name.

This function is deprecated. It is preferable to use mysql_query() to issue a SQL SHOW COLUMNS FROM table [LIKE 'name'] statement instead.

Or, just use mysql_fetch_array on the resultset and do foreach($result as $key=>$val) to get field names : $key

Could you or anyone be more specific regarding the syntax of your last suggestion? I have a need to read the column names in a result set from a query and don't quite understand what you mean. I am not even sure what to search for.

Regards,

devinemke

obrienkev wrote:
Tried using DESCRIBE but doesn't display the data.
$query = "DESCRIBE EMPLOYEES_Registered";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());

...because you are not displaying the data:

$result = mysql_query('DESCRIBE EMPLOYEES_Registered') or exit(mysql_error());
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {echo $row['Field'] . '<br>';}

Sxooter

It's way easier than that:

<?php
$res = mysql_query("select * from sometable");
$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($res);
print implode(":",array_keys($row));
?>

Plus this same method will work with any generic xxx_query type interface, so it's easier to port from MySQL to ORacle, to PostgreSQL, to firebird, to SAPdb, to MAX DB, to db2, to ODBC, etc...

devinemke

Sxooter wrote:
It's way easier than that:

...not as easy on your db server as that method requires pulling all the data out of the db.

Sxooter

True, you could just add something like "where 1=0" to the end.

Or limit 1 if your db supports limit

My method assumed you were already using a query of some kind, and just needed the names of the fields. in that case, you've already got them in memory, so the other method you mention actually uses more resources.