why query won't work

[chucklarge]

Hello
can anyone tell me why this query works

SELECT username AS 'User' FROM users WHERE username='blah'

but this will not

SELECT username AS 'User' FROM users WHERE 'User'='blah' 

thanks,
chuck

[NogDog]

Use back-quotes for the quoting of column/table names and aliases:

 SELECT username AS `User` FROM users WHERE `User`='blah'

Or to be on the completely safe side:

 SELECT `username` AS `User` FROM `users` WHERE `User`='blah'

[chucklarge]

Thanks for your reply,

I used your completely safe side query but I get this error message however

Unknown column 'User' in 'where clause'

[NogDog]

I forgot about the fact that column aliases cannot be used in a where clause:

Standard SQL doesn't allow you to refer to a column alias in a WHERE clause. This restriction is imposed because when the WHERE code is executed, the column value may not yet be determined.