Inserting new columns with increasing numbers ..

[2millionways]

Hi, I am trying to create code where new column will be added (step_status). If the column exist a new number would be added to the name (step_status1, step_status2 and so on). The code below does not work ... I get the message about the duplicating columns.

/ check if column step_status exist if does add 1 /

$sql="SELECT * FROM all_tickets";
$result=mysql_query($sql);

if ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$bTrue = true;
$i=1;
while ($bTrue) {
if (!isset($row['step_status' . $i])) {
$bTrue = false;
$columname = 'step_status' . $i;
}else {
$i++;
}
}

   $sql = "alter table all_tickets add column $columname enum ('0','1')";

}

Thanks for help.

[bradgrafelman]

I would suggest finding an article or two about database normalization first; you shouldn't have a situation where you need to dynamically add columns to a table in this type of situation!