[RESOLVED] How to select based on optional form fields being filled in

[lerro]

In PHP, how would i construct an sql to search for a record with conditional statements?

Say i have two fields, firstname and surname, and user can enter

• either firstname,

• or surname

• or both firstname and surname

into a form to search for a record

So the form posts its values

Instead of having to write 3 "if-else" options to cater for the fields that a user may have input, incase i then increase this to include middlename, etc which would create a longer "if-else" statement with all the possible combinations

How can i make it such that -

SELECT * FROM user WHERE ......

caters for such scenarios?

[NogDog]

One way:

$query = "SELECT * FROM user";
$where = array();
if(!empty($_POST['first'])) {
   $where[] = "`first_name` = '" . mysql_real_escape_string(trim($_POST['first'])) . "'";
}
if(!empty($_POZS['last'])) {
   $where[] = "`last_name` = '" . mysql_real_escape_string(trim($_POST['last'])) . "'";
}
if(count($where)) {
   $query .= " WHERE " . implode (" AND ", $where);
}

[lerro]

Thanks for that, i will try it out

[lerro]

Thanks!! the solution works.