Reputation: 135

Quick way to define PHP variables based on MySQL table field names

When retrieving values from a MySQL table using PHP, how can I efficiently define a set of variables based on the names of the fields in the MySQL table?

In the past I have been able to do something along the following lines:

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
    explode ($row);
    ...
}

And this has defined a load of variables with the same names as the field names in my table.

I cannot for the life of me remember what the explode ($row) bit was though. Thanks.

Upvotes: 0

Answers (4)

Michael Berkowski

Reputation: 270609

You're probably thinking of the list() function.

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array ($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
  list($col1, $col2, $col3) = $row;
   ...
}

// Or more concise:
while (list($col1, $col2, $col3) = mysql_fetch_array ($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
   echo $col1;
   echo $col2;
   ...
}

However, I would probably not use list(). I'd much prefer to access the columns directly from the associative array as $row['col1'], $row['col2'], $row['col3'] so as not to litter the global namespace with short-lived variables.

Upvotes: 1

Spudley

Reputation: 168655

The results of a mysql_fetch_array are delivered into an associative array.

There are a couple of ways to convert the variables in an associative array into simple variables. The most common way is to use the list() function. Another is the extract() function.

However, I would urge you to rather just stick with using the associative array that you are given intially.

If you read the manual page for extract(), you'll note that they make a point of warning about it being a potential security risk. Its use is generally discouraged (although it isn't formally deprecated at this point).

Using list() is more common, and does not represent the same risk as extract(), but is still unnecessary in most cases.

Hope that helps.

Upvotes: 2