Why do I get this error?

D_tunisia

I'm running this simple query:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM rumours WHERE rumour = $text");
$num_rows = mysql_fetch_array($result);

But I get this error no matter what I do. What am I doing wrong?

Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/.../index.php on line 16

Piranha

Try this:

$sql = "SELECT * FROM rumours WHERE rumour = $text";
echo $sql;
$result = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
$num_rows = mysql_fetch_array($result);

It will output the query and the error from mysql.

rulian

try
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM 1rumours1 WHERE rumour = '".$text."'");
$num_rows = mysql_fetch_array($result);

and also make sure you have a proper connection to the DB

rulian

i mean sorry

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM rumours WHERE rumour = '".$text."'");

NogDog

rulian wrote:
i mean sorry

$result = mysql_query("SELECT FROM rumours WHERE rumour = '".$text."'");

While there is no problem with that, it's not necessary to use concatenation for the $text variable since you're working with a double-quoted string literal. You could just do:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `rumours` WHERE `rumour` = '$text'");

bradgrafelman

And depending upon where $text is coming from and what data it might hold, you should probably run it through [man]mysql_real_escape_string/man first.

EDIT: Just in case it isn't clear to the OP why these solutions will work...

Since $text is (presumably) text, you need to surround it in single quotes in your query. Without the quotes, MySQL thinks you're giving it a numeric value, or some MySQL keyword. It works the same as in PHP - when you give a variable a string value in PHP, you have to surround the string in quotes, whereas for numeric values you don't use quotes.