the shortest way to get 1 col from 1 row ?

steamPunk

I usually write my SELECT query code out the long way using

$res = mysql_query("SELECT col FROM table WHERE row_id='".$id."'");
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($res)){
$var=$row['col'];
}

but is there a more concise way of doing it when i just want 1 value from 1 row ?

ideally like this :

$var=mysql_query("SELECT col FROM table WHERE row_id='".$id."'");

I've never seen it written like that so it's probably just wishful thinking - but is there something closer to that than what i usually do ?

thanks

laserlight

Yes:

$res = mysql_query("SELECT col FROM table WHERE row_id='" . $id . "'");
$var = mysql_result($res, 0);

That said, I would urge you to switch to the PDO extension and use PDOStatement::fetchColumn() instead.

steamPunk

laserlight wrote:
That said, I would urge you to switch to the PDO extension and use PDOStatement::fetchColumn() instead.

thanks for that bit of code - it's certainly shorter than what i was doing

the problem with PDO is that the site I'm working on is on shared hosting and if you use the extension .php it defaults to php 4 - and to I'd have to change all the site files to .php5 to force it into php 5 mode and I need to have this particular job done in three days' time and can't take the risk of major changes like that

BUT the PDO class looks good and I will implement it on my next new development

thanks 🙂

laserlight

the problem with PDO is that the site I'm working on is on shared hosting and if you use the extension .php it defaults to php 4 - and to I'd have to change all the site files to .php5 to force it into php 5 mode and I need to have this particular job done in three days' time and can't take the risk of major changes like that

Yes, you do have to work within what you are constrained by. That said, you may wish to remind your host that official support for PHP 4, even those concerning critical security fixes, will cease in less than ten weeks. There have been no ordinary official support for PHP 4 for the past five months.

steamPunk

actually I could use .htaccess to change the php version - I might just try it and see what happens but it could be risky

steamPunk

it's not the host's fault - they even offer limited support of php 6 on some servers

it's more me being too lazy to upgrade my filez ..... :/