Query Concatenation With Array And Loop

[kq76]

Please help. I've been stuck on this for days. I've searched and searched for a solution, but I've had no luck.

I have the following:

$query = "SELECT * FROM leagues WHERE 1";

if (!empty($_GET['lg_id'])) { $query .= " AND lg_id LIKE '%".$_GET['lg_id']."%'"; }
if (!empty($_GET['lg_initials'])) { $query .= " AND lg_initials LIKE '%".$_GET['lg_initials']."%'"; }
//and numerous similar other lines

$query .= " ORDER BY lg_full_name ASC";

, which produces the query I want in:

SELECT * FROM leagues WHERE 1 AND defunct LIKE '%UserInput%' AND site_address LIKE '%UserInput' ORDER BY lg_full_name ASC

However, I want to read the table header names from an array and for loop through that middle chunk. To do that, I've gotten:

$query = "SELECT * FROM leagues WHERE 1";

// include that contains the $hs array of table header names
include("includes/arrays.inc");

function get_search_pars($headershort) {
	if (!empty($_GET[$headershort])) { 
		" AND $headershort LIKE '%".$_GET[$headershort]."%'";
	}
}

for ($x = 1; $x < count($hs); $x++) {
	get_search_pars($hs[$x]);
}

$query .= " ORDER BY lg_full_name ASC";

But the problem is I can't figure out how to get that middle stuff to concatenate the query like in the original code:

I tried switching:

		" AND $headershort LIKE '%".$_GET[$headershort]."%'";

with:

		$query .= " AND $headershort LIKE '%".$_GET[$headershort]."%'";

and I can echo that right after with:

		echo "$query .= ' AND $headershort LIKE '%".$_GET[$headershort]."%'";

, which produces:

Notice: Undefined variable: query in e:\program files\easyphp1-8\www\iold\search.php on line 55
AND defunct LIKE '%Yes%' .= ' AND defunct LIKE '%Yes%'
Notice: Undefined variable: query in e:\program files\easyphp1-8\www\iold\search.php on line 55
AND site_address LIKE '%http://%' .= ' AND site_address LIKE '%http://%'

, which tells me I might be on the right track, but then it wants to use the query variable inside the function and I obviously don't want it to because it's copying itself.

So, I figured what I really want to do is something like:

$query .= "

	for ($x = 1; $x < count($hs); $x++) {
		get_search_pars($hs[$x]);
	}

";

, but of course that doesn't work.

So, I tried things like:

	for ($x = 1; $x < count($hs); $x++) {
		$query .= " get_search_pars($hs[$x]);";
	}

But that doesn't work either. 🙁

How can I concatenate that looped middle chunk to the query?

Yes, I know I should filter my input and escape my output, but one step at a time here. 🙂

Thanks in advance.

[coreyp_1]

That is a lot of messed up code! :eek:

Let me first give my possible solution:

$query = "SELECT * FROM leagues WHERE 1";

// include that contains the $hs array of table header names
include("includes/arrays.inc");

foreach ($hs as $headershort) {
  if (!empty($_GET[$headershort])) {
    $query .= " AND $headershort LIKE '%".$_GET[$headershort]."%'";
  }
}

$query .= " ORDER BY lg_full_name ASC";

My suggestions:
1. There is no need to use a function. It only adds overhead to your code.
2. When you were using a function, you weren't returning any value, so it wouldn't work in the way you were trying to use it.
3. You can't access $query inside the function unless you declare it as a global. (This is really unnecessary, as you can see.
4. If this doesn't do what you need, please clarify some more.

IF you still wanted to use the function (which I don't recommend in this case), you could do something like this (I offer this solution only to show where the problem is):

$query = "SELECT * FROM leagues WHERE 1";

// include that contains the $hs array of table header names
include("includes/arrays.inc");

function get_search_pars($headershort) {
    if (!empty($_GET[$headershort])) { 
        return " AND $headershort LIKE '%".$_GET[$headershort]."%'";
    }
}

for ($x = 1; $x < count($hs); $x++) {
    $query .= get_search_pars($hs[$x]);
}

$query .= " ORDER BY lg_full_name ASC";

As I said before, I think the first option is your best bet. It will execute quicker, and is a lot more readable!

Good luck!

[kq76]

Thank you so much coreyp_1. I used your first example and it worked! 🙂 I'm obviously still kind of new to this stuff and I got it in my head that a function was the way to go when really, it wasn't at all. When I get stuck in the future I'll try to remember to attack it from a completely different angle.