mysql_query

(PHP 4, PHP 5)

mysql_querySend a MySQL query

Warning

This extension was deprecated in PHP 5.5.0, and it was removed in PHP 7.0.0. Instead, the MySQLi or PDO_MySQL extension should be used. See also MySQL: choosing an API guide. Alternatives to this function include:

Description

mysql_query(string $query, resource $link_identifier = NULL): mixed

mysql_query() sends a unique query (multiple queries are not supported) to the currently active database on the server that's associated with the specified link_identifier.

Parameters

query

An SQL query

The query string should not end with a semicolon. Data inside the query should be properly escaped.

link_identifier

The MySQL connection. If the link identifier is not specified, the last link opened by mysql_connect() is assumed. If no such link is found, it will try to create one as if mysql_connect() had been called with no arguments. If no connection is found or established, an E_WARNING level error is generated.

Return Values

For SELECT, SHOW, DESCRIBE, EXPLAIN and other statements returning resultset, mysql_query() returns a resource on success, or false on error.

For other type of SQL statements, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, DROP, etc, mysql_query() returns true on success or false on error.

The returned result resource should be passed to mysql_fetch_array(), and other functions for dealing with result tables, to access the returned data.

Use mysql_num_rows() to find out how many rows were returned for a SELECT statement or mysql_affected_rows() to find out how many rows were affected by a DELETE, INSERT, REPLACE, or UPDATE statement.

mysql_query() will also fail and return false if the user does not have permission to access the table(s) referenced by the query.

Examples

Example #1 Invalid Query

The following query is syntactically invalid, so mysql_query() fails and returns false.

<?php
$result
= mysql_query('SELECT * WHERE 1=1');
if (!
$result) {
die(
'Invalid query: ' . mysql_error());
}

?>

Example #2 Valid Query

The following query is valid, so mysql_query() returns a resource.

<?php
// This could be supplied by a user, for example
$firstname = 'fred';
$lastname = 'fox';

// Formulate Query
// This is the best way to perform an SQL query
// For more examples, see mysql_real_escape_string()
$query = sprintf("SELECT firstname, lastname, address, age FROM friends
WHERE firstname='%s' AND lastname='%s'"
,
mysql_real_escape_string($firstname),
mysql_real_escape_string($lastname));

// Perform Query
$result = mysql_query($query);

// Check result
// This shows the actual query sent to MySQL, and the error. Useful for debugging.
if (!$result) {
$message = 'Invalid query: ' . mysql_error() . "\n";
$message .= 'Whole query: ' . $query;
die(
$message);
}

// Use result
// Attempting to print $result won't allow access to information in the resource
// One of the mysql result functions must be used
// See also mysql_result(), mysql_fetch_array(), mysql_fetch_row(), etc.
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
echo
$row['firstname'];
echo
$row['lastname'];
echo
$row['address'];
echo
$row['age'];
}

// Free the resources associated with the result set
// This is done automatically at the end of the script
mysql_free_result($result);
?>

See Also

add a note

User Contributed Notes 15 notes

up
12
jack dot whoami at gmail dot com
17 years ago
Simulating an atomic operation for application locks using mysql.

$link = mysql_connect('localhost', 'user', 'pass');
if (!$link) {
die('Not connected : ' . mysql_error());
}

// make foo the current db
$db_selected = mysql_select_db('foo', $link);
if (!$db_selected) {
die ('Can\'t use foo : ' . mysql_error());
}

$q = "update `table` set `LOCK`='F' where `ID`='1'";
$lock = mysql_affected_rows();

If we assume
NOT LOCKED = "" (empty string)
LOCKED = 'F'

then if the column LOCK had a value other than F (normally should be an empty string) the update statement sets it to F and set the affected rows to 1. Which mean than we got the lock.
If affected rows return 0 then the value of that column was already F and somebody else has the lock.

The secret lies in the following statement taken from the mysql manual:
"If you set a column to the value it currently has, MySQL notices this and does not update it."

Of course all this is possible if the all application processes agree on the locking algorithm.
up
7
halion at gmail dot com
17 years ago
mysql_query doesnt support multiple queries, a way round this is to use innodb and transactions

this db class/function will accept an array of arrays of querys, it will auto check every line for affected rows in db, if one is 0 it will rollback and return false, else it will commit and return true, the call to the function is simple and is easy to read etc
----------

class MySQLDB
{
private $connection; // The MySQL database connection

/* Class constructor */
function MySQLDB(){
/* Make connection to database */
$this->connection = mysql_connect(DB_SERVER, DB_USER, DB_PASS) or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db(DB_NAME, $this->connection) or die(mysql_error());
}

/* Transactions functions */

function begin(){
$null = mysql_query("START TRANSACTION", $this->connection);
return mysql_query("BEGIN", $this->connection);
}

function commit(){
return mysql_query("COMMIT", $this->connection);
}

function rollback(){
return mysql_query("ROLLBACK", $this->connection);
}

function transaction($q_array){
$retval = 1;

$this->begin();

foreach($q_array as $qa){
$result = mysql_query($qa['query'], $this->connection);
if(mysql_affected_rows() == 0){ $retval = 0; }
}

if($retval == 0){
$this->rollback();
return false;
}else{
$this->commit();
return true;
}
}

};

/* Create database connection object */
$database = new MySQLDB;

// then from anywhere else simply put the transaction queries in an array or arrays like this:

function function(){
global $database;

$q = array (
array("query" => "UPDATE table WHERE something = 'something'"),
array("query" => "UPDATE table WHERE something_else = 'something_else'"),
array("query" => "DELETE FROM table WHERE something_else2 = 'something_else2'"),
);

$database->transaction($q);

}
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2
Anonymous
18 years ago
If, like me, you come from perl, you may not like having to use sprintf to 'simulate' placeholders that the DBI package from perl provides. I have created the following wrapper function for mysql_query() that allows you to use '?' characters to substitute values in your DB queries. Note that this is not how DBI in perl handles placeholders, but it's pretty similar.

<?php
// mysql_query() wrapper. takes two arguments. first
// is the query with '?' placeholders in it. second argument
// is an array containing the values to substitute in place
// of the placeholders (in order, of course).
function mysql_prepare ($query, $phs = array()) {
foreach (
$phs as $ph) {
$ph = "'" . mysql_real_escape_string($ph) . "'";
$query = substr_replace(
$query, $ph, strpos($query, '?'), 1
);
}

return
mysql_query($query);
}

// sample usage
list($user, $passwd) = array('myuser', 'mypass');

$sth = mysql_prepare(
'select userid from users where userid=? and passwd=?',
array(
$user, sha1($passwd))
);
$row = mysql_fetch_row($sth);

// successfull username & password authentication
if ($row !== false) {
echo
"logging in as '{$row[0]}'!\n";
}

// oops, wrong userid or passwd
else {
echo
"Invalid username and password combination.\n";
}
?>
up
-1
fbraz3 at gmail dot com
6 years ago
This project implements a wrapper to mysql functions in PHP7.0+

https://github.com/OOPS-ORG-PHP/mysql-extension-wrapper

tested and working fine =)
up
-1
Mr. Tim
15 years ago
It should be noted that mysql_query can generate an E_WARNING (not documented). The warning that I hit was when the db user did not have permission to execute a UDF.

Expected behavior would be like an Invalid SQL statement, where there is no E_WARNING generated by mysql_query.

Warning: mysql_query() [function.mysql-query]: Unable to save result set in filename.php

The mysql_errno is 1370 and the mysql_error is:

execute command denied to user 'username'@'%' for routine 'database_name.MyUDF'
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-2
ialsoagree
15 years ago
When you run a select statement and receive a response, the data types of your response will be a string regardless of the data type of the column.

<?php
// Query to select an int column
$query = 'SELECT user_id FROM users WHERE user_id = 1';
$result = mysql_query($query);
$array = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);

// Echoes: string
echo gettype($array['user_id']);
?>
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-2
nikhil-php at nols dot com
24 years ago
When trying to INSERT or UPDATE and trying to put a large amount of text or data (blob) into a mysql table you might run into problems.

In mysql.err you might see:
Packet too large (73904)

To fix you just have to start up mysql with the option -O max_allowed_packet=maxsize

You would just replace maxsize with the max size you want to insert, the default is 65536
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-3
masteracc0 at aol dot com
16 years ago
Keep in mind when dealing with PHP & MySQL that sending a null-terminated string to a MySQL query can be misleading if you use echo($sql) in PHP because the null terminator may not be visible.

For example (this assumes connection is already made),
$string1 = "mystring\0";
$string2 = "mystring";

$query1 = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE mystring='".$string1."'"
$query2 = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE mystring='".$string2."'"

$result1 = mysql_query($query1);

$result2 = mysql_query($query2);

//$result1 IS NOT EQUAL TO $result2 but will not provide an error

//but printing these queries to the screen will provide the same result
echo($result1);
echo($result2);

Not knowing this could lead to some mind-numbing troubleshooting when dealing with any strings with a null terminator. So now you know! :)
up
-4
ddlshack [at] gmail.dot.com
13 years ago
Use this to neatly insert data into a mysql table:

<?php
function mysql_insert($table, $inserts) {
$values = array_map('mysql_real_escape_string', array_values($inserts));
$keys = array_keys($inserts);

return
mysql_query('INSERT INTO `'.$table.'` (`'.implode('`,`', $keys).'`) VALUES (\''.implode('\',\'', $values).'\')');
}
?>

For example:

<?php

mysql_insert
('cars', array(
'make' => 'Aston Martin',
'model' => 'DB9',
'year' => '2009',
));
?>
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-3
davidc at edeca dot net
21 years ago
Regarding the idea for returning all possible values of an enum field, the mySQL manual says that "SHOW COLUMNS FROM table LIKE column" should be used to do this.

The function below (presumes db connection) will return an array of the possible values of an enum.

function GetEnumValues($Table,$Column)
{
$dbSQL = "SHOW COLUMNS FROM ".$Table." LIKE '".$Column."'";
$dbQuery = mysql_query($dbSQL);

$dbRow = mysql_fetch_assoc($dbQuery);
$EnumValues = $dbRow["Type"];

$EnumValues = substr($EnumValues, 6, strlen($EnumValues)-8);
$EnumValues = str_replace("','",",",$EnumValues);

return explode(",",$EnumValues);
}

Cavaets:

1) If the LIKE matches more than one column you get the enum from the first, so be careful with the $Column argument
2) You can't have ',' as part of one of the enums (I guess mySQL would escape this, but I haven't tried)
3) If the field isn't an enum you'll get garbage back!

This is just a quick example to show how to do it, some tidying up needs to be done (ie checking if the field is actually an enum) before it is perfect.
up
-3
Anonymous
21 years ago
Until this function prohibits them, watch out for SQL comments (--) in your input.
up
-4
rob desbois
18 years ago
Note that the 'source' command used in the mysql client program is *not* a feature of the server but of the client.
This means that you cannot do
mysql_query('source myfile.sql');
You will get a syntax error. Use LOAD DATA INFILE as an alternative.
up
-4
php at arcannon dot com
18 years ago
I believe there is a typo in celtic at raven-blue dot com version with:

if (($sql != "") && (substr($tsl, 0, 2) != "--") && (substr($tsl, 0, 1) != "#")) {

I think you really ment:

if (($tsl != "") && (substr($tsl, 0, 2) != "--") && (substr($tsl, 0, 1) != "#")) {

I changed the $sql to $tsl
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-5
veyita_angi at hotmail dot com
17 years ago
this could be a nice way to print values from 2 tables with a foreign key. i have not yet tested correctly but it should work fine.

$buscar = mysql_query("SELECT k.*, e.Clasificacion FROM cat_plan_k k, cat_equipo e WHERE Tipo='$tipo' AND k.ID_Eq=a.ID_Eq");
while ($row=mysql_fetch_array($buscar))
{
$nombre = "e.Clasificacion";
$row[$nombre] = $Clasific; echo $row[$nombre].'convertido en '.$Clasific;
}
mysql_free_result($buscar);
up
-5
cc+php at c2se dot com
17 years ago
Here's a parameterised query function for MySQL similar to pg_query_params, I've been using something similar for a while now and while there is a slight drop in speed, it's far better than making a mistake escaping the parameters of your query and allowing an SQL injection attack on your server.

<?php # Parameterised query implementation for MySQL (similar PostgreSQL's PHP function pg_query_params)
# Example: mysql_query_params( "SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE col1=$1 AND col2=$2", array( 42, "It's ok" ) );

if( !function_exists( 'mysql_query_params' ) ) {

function
mysql_query_params__callback( $at ) {
global
$mysql_query_params__parameters;
return
$mysql_query_params__parameters[ $at[1]-1 ];
}

function
mysql_query_params( $query, $parameters=array(), $database=false ) {

// Escape parameters as required & build parameters for callback function
global $mysql_query_params__parameters;
foreach(
$parameters as $k=>$v )
$parameters[$k] = ( is_int( $v ) ? $v : ( NULL===$v ? 'NULL' : "'".mysql_real_escape_string( $v )."'" ) );
$mysql_query_params__parameters = $parameters;

// Call using mysql_query
if( false===$database )
return
mysql_query( preg_replace_callback( '/\$([0-9]+)/', 'mysql_query_params__callback', $query ) );
else return
mysql_query( preg_replace_callback( '/\$([0-9]+)/', 'mysql_query_params__callback', $query ), $database );

}
}

?>
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