How to sort results (new to PHP)

ginginca

I have a query that is producing a list.

 $specific_value = 'Industrial';
$query = "SELECT * FROM table_links WHERE cat = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($specific_value) . "'";
$result = mysql_query($query);

if(!$result) die("ERROR: " . mysql_error());

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
      echo '<a href="'.$row['mfr_url'].'">'.$row['manufacturer'].'</a><br>';

I would like to sort it alphabetically. How would I include that in my query?

Rodney_H_

Hi, ginginca:

You can have MySQL return the results alphabetically for you by using an "ORDER BY" clause in your query statement.

<?php
// returns results alphabetically by the `cat` field
$query = "SELECT `url`, `manufacturer` 
            FROM `table_links` 
            WHERE `cat` = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($specific_value) . "' 
            ORDER BY `cat`";

?>

For more information, check here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/select.html

As a side-note, returning ALL (*) from your database can be intensive on resources, and it is best to only return what is needed: 2 fields (url, manufacturer) for example....

Hope that helps...

ginginca

Thanks for your reply.

I'm running into problems with both of your suggestions.

(1) ORDER BY is producing an error.

(2) SELECT produces a list that does not use my database. It produces a list that says

manufacturer
manufacturer
manufacturer
manufacturer

There are only four fields in the database, and about 80 records. With a database this small is it still slowing down the database to select all of them?

Rodney_H_

1) What is the EXACT error message?

2) You are probably echoing out the wrong value

3) SELECT * (ALL) does not mean: "select everything in the database. it means you want to return all the fields from the table, not just a specific field or two. Get it?

4) What ARE the fields in your table?

5) Can you show your full code now??

ginginca

I did post the entire code. All it does is post a list with links in it.

My fields are:

IDNUM
cat
manufacturer
mfr_url

(I did modify the field in your code to match mfr_url)

The error said ERROR

When I add in ORDER BY, should this be coming up as RED in my editor? It is coming up black.

Rodney_H_

Please show your code.

ginginca

Sorry Rodney I must be misunderstanding what you're asking. I already posted it.

<?php	  // Query the Database
 $specific_value = 'Industrial';
$query = "SELECT * FROM table_links WHERE cat = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($specific_value) . "'"
;
$result = mysql_query($query);

if(!$result) die("ERROR: " . mysql_error());

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
      echo '<a href="'.$row['mfr_url'].'">'.$row['manufacturer'].'</a><br>'; 

}  ?>

ClarkF1

There's no ORDER BY in that code.........

It should go before the last " in the query so you have something like

$query = "SELECT * FROM table_links WHERE cat = '". mysql_real_escape_string($specific_value). "' ORDER BY manufacturer ";

This should order the results by the manufacturer field in alphabetical order

Rodney_H_

As ClarkF1 has astutely pointed out, there is no ORDER BY clause in this code snippet meaning that WAS your original code, but I wanted to see your code after incorporating my suggestions...

JCBarry

Try this...

$specific_value = mysql_real_escape_string('Industrial');
$query = 'SELECT `url`, `manufacturer` FROM `table_links` WHERE `cat` = \'$specific_value\' ORDER BY `cat` ASC';

I think you weren't escaping your quotes correctly. Also note the ASC at the end of the string. That will sort the results by cat ascending, you can also change it to DESC.