Hello All,

I am trying to assign a value to a string in order to use it in a mysql_query statement. But I am having trouble. Here is my code:

    $username = $HTTP_POST_VARS['username'];
    echo $username;
    echo "<br>";
    $query = "INSERT INTO jpnquiz.users VALUES('";
    $query = $query + $username;
    $query = $query + "','5','0','0','0')";
        echo $query;
    echo "<br>";

When the above code runs, the value assigned to $username echoes properly but the value assigned to $query shows up as a zero. Again, all assistance is greatly appreciated.

Glen

It looks like you're trying to use JavaScript style concatenation.

In PHP the period is used to concatenate, not the plus sign.

$username = $HTTP_POST_VARS['username'];
    echo $username;
    echo "<br>";
    $query = "INSERT INTO jpnquiz.users VALUES('";
    $query = $query . $username;
    $query = $query . "','5','0','0','0')";
        echo $query;
    echo "<br>";

Is one way of doing it.

$username = $HTTP_POST_VARS['username'];
    echo $username;
    echo "<br>";
    $query = "INSERT INTO jpnquiz.users VALUES('";
    $query .= $username;
    $query .= "','5','0','0','0')";
        echo $query;
    echo "<br>";

The .= combination of operators is a shortcut for doing that.

And the best way would be:

$query = "INSERT INTO jpnquiz.users VALUES('".$username."','5','0','0','0')";

-OR- The apostrophe is not a valid variable name character, so $username would be recognized and substituted for the correct variable value within string context.

$query = "INSERT INTO jpnquiz.users VALUES('$username','5','0','0','0')";

-OR- Curly Brace Syntax

$query = "INSERT INTO jpnquiz.users VALUES('{$username}','5','0','0','0')";

All do pretty much the same thing.

See:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php

Also you do not need to specify the database name when you are inserting into a single table.

$query = "INSERT INTO `users` VALUES('{$username}','5','0','0','0')";
Should also work. (Backticks optional)

: )
Rich



:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Smiling Souls
http://www.smilingsouls.net
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Also you should avoid using the long predefined variable names, like HTTP_*_VARS. These are deprecated and won't be available in PHP 5. Use the shorter superglobal counterparts.. for this example, $_POST["username"]; instead of $HTTP_POST_VARS["username"]; These have been available in PHP since PHP 4.1.0. If you are using a version of PHP older than that I would strongly suggest upgrading or urging your ISP/admin to upgrade. If all else fails you might consider writing a script that transfers values from the old longer names to the shorter ones for version portability purposes. If you would like to see an example just ask.

See:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/languag...predefined.php

: )
Rich

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Smiling Souls
http://www.smilingsouls.net
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

What was I thinking? I think that doing this this way: jpnquiz.users would look for a table named 'jpnquiz' with a field named 'users' and attempt to insert data into the users field. So I do not think that would produce your expected result. The database must be selected before hand. (I am just assuming you are using MySQL here..). Based on the INSERT statement syntax from the MySQL manual my assumptions are correct.

: )
Rich



:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Smiling Souls
http://www.smilingsouls.net
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Thanks everyone, that got me on the right track.

Glen