get x nos of characters from field

[trehy2006]

How can i make it so that this function:

function news_index($what,$called) {
$query = "SELECT * FROM news";
$result = mysql_query($query);
$int = mysql_num_rows($result);
if($called == "1"){$num = ($int-1);}
if($called == "2"){$num=($int-2);}
$newsdate  = mysql_result($result,$num,"date");
$newstitle = mysql_result($result,$num,"title");
$newsdesc  = mysql_result($result,$num,"description");
IF ($what == "1"){print "$newstitle";}
IF ($what == "2"){print "$newsdesc";}
IF ($what == "3"){print "$newsdate";}
} 

when say called as

new_index(2,1);

If the total number of characters is over say 40 it will only print 40 chars rather than all of the entry

TIA
RT

[rvdavid]

Hi there,

Why don't you use meaningful values for your parameters instead of 1s and 2s?

Anyway... onto your question.

You can use the MySQL SUBSTR command for this.

$sql =  "SELECT SUBSTRING(<FIELD>,0,39) ..."

Or if you really want to do this in PHP you could use the substr command.

substr($string,0,40);

Read up on it on PHP.NET

regards,