MySQL - Select Query

Syntax

Here is generic SQL syntax of SELECT command to fetch data from the MySQL table −

SELECT field1, field2,...fieldN 
FROM table_name1, table_name2...
[WHERE Clause]
[OFFSET M ][LIMIT N]

You can use one or more tables separated by comma to include various conditions using a WHERE clause, but the WHERE clause is an optional part of the SELECT command.
You can fetch one or more fields in a single SELECT command.
You can specify star (*) in place of fields. In this case, SELECT will return all the fields.
You can specify any condition using the WHERE clause.
You can specify an offset using OFFSET from where SELECT will start returning records. By default, the offset starts at zero.
You can limit the number of returns using the LIMIT attribute.

Fetching Data from a Command Prompt

This will use SQL SELECT command to fetch data from the MySQL table tutorials_tbl.

Example

The following example will return all the records from the tutorials_tbl table −

root@host# mysql -u root -p password;
Enter password:*******
mysql> use TUTORIALS;
Database changed
mysql> SELECT * from tutorials_tbl 
+-------------+----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| tutorial_id | tutorial_title | tutorial_author | submission_date |
+-------------+----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
|           1 | Learn PHP      | John Poul       | 2007-05-21      |
|           2 | Learn MySQL    | Abdul S         | 2007-05-21      |
|           3 | JAVA Tutorial  | Sanjay          | 2007-05-21      |
+-------------+----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
3 rows in set (0.01 sec)

mysql>

Fetching Data Using a PHP Script

You can use the same SQL SELECT command into a PHP function mysql_query(). This function is used to execute the SQL command and then later another PHP function mysql_fetch_array() can be used to fetch all the selected data. This function returns the row as an associative array, a numeric array, or both. This function returns FALSE if there are no more rows.

The following program is a simple example which will show how to fetch / display records from the tutorials_tbl table.

Example

The following code block will display all the records from the tutorials_tbl table.

<?php
   $dbhost = 'localhost:3036';
   $dbuser = 'root';
   $dbpass = 'rootpassword';
   $conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
   
   if(! $conn ) {
      die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   $sql = 'SELECT tutorial_id, tutorial_title, tutorial_author, submission_date FROM tutorials_tbl';

   mysql_select_db('TUTORIALS');
   $retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn );
   
   if(! $retval ) {
      die('Could not get data: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   
   while($row = mysql_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
      echo "Tutorial ID :{$row['tutorial_id']}  <br> ".
         "Title: {$row['tutorial_title']} <br> ".
         "Author: {$row['tutorial_author']} <br> ".
         "Submission Date : {$row['submission_date']} <br> ".
         "--------------------------------<br>";
   } 
   echo "Fetched data successfully\n";
   mysql_close($conn);
?>

The content of the rows is assigned to the variable $row and the values in that row are then printed.

NOTE − Always remember to put curly brackets when you want to insert an array value directly into a string.

In the above example, the constant MYSQL_ASSOC is used as the second argument to the PHP function mysql_fetch_array(), so that it returns the row as an associative array. With an associative array you can access the field by using their name instead of using the index.

PHP provides another function called mysql_fetch_assoc(), which also returns the row as an associative array.

Example

The following example to display all the records from the tutorial_tbl table using mysql_fetch_assoc() function.

<?php
   $dbhost = 'localhost:3036';
   $dbuser = 'root';
   $dbpass = 'rootpassword';
   $conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
   
   if(! $conn ) {
      die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   
   $sql = 'SELECT tutorial_id, tutorial_title, tutorial_author, submission_date
      FROM tutorials_tbl';

   mysql_select_db('TUTORIALS');
   $retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn );
   
   if(! $retval ) {
      die('Could not get data: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   
   while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($retval)) {
      echo "Tutorial ID :{$row['tutorial_id']}  <br> ".
         "Title: {$row['tutorial_title']} <br> ".
         "Author: {$row['tutorial_author']} <br> ".
         "Submission Date : {$row['submission_date']} <br> ".
         "--------------------------------<br>";
   } 
   echo "Fetched data successfully\n";
   mysql_close($conn);
?>

You can also use the constant MYSQL_NUM as the second argument to the PHP function mysql_fetch_array(). This will cause the function to return an array with the numeric index.

Example

Try out the following example to display all the records from tutorials_tbl table using the MYSQL_NUM argument.

<?php
   $dbhost = 'localhost:3036';
   $dbuser = 'root';
   $dbpass = 'rootpassword';
   $conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);

   if(! $conn ) {
      die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   
   $sql = 'SELECT tutorial_id, tutorial_title, tutorial_author, submission_date
      FROM tutorials_tbl';

   mysql_select_db('TUTORIALS');
   $retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn );
   
   if(! $retval ) {
      die('Could not get data: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   
   while($row = mysql_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_NUM)) {
      echo "Tutorial ID :{$row[0]}  <br> ".
         "Title: {$row[1]} <br> ".
         "Author: {$row[2]} <br> ".
         "Submission Date : {$row[3]} <br> ".
         "--------------------------------<br>";
   }
   echo "Fetched data successfully\n";
   mysql_close($conn);
?>

All the above three examples will produce the same result.

Releasing Memory

It is a good practice to release cursor memory at the end of each SELECT statement. This can be done by using the PHP function mysql_free_result(). The following program is the example to show how it should be used.

Example

Try out the following example −

<?php
   $dbhost = 'localhost:3036';
   $dbuser = 'root';
   $dbpass = 'rootpassword';
   $conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);

   if(! $conn ) {
      die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   
   $sql = 'SELECT tutorial_id, tutorial_title, tutorial_author, submission_date
      FROM tutorials_tbl';

   mysql_select_db('TUTORIALS');
   $retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn );
   
   if(! $retval ) {
      die('Could not get data: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   
   while($row = mysql_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_NUM)) {
      echo "Tutorial ID :{$row[0]}  <br> ".
         "Title: {$row[1]} <br> ".
         "Author: {$row[2]} <br> ".
         "Submission Date : {$row[3]} <br> ".
         "--------------------------------<br>";
   }
   mysql_free_result($retval);
   echo "Fetched data successfully\n";
   mysql_close($conn);
?>

While fetching data, you can write as complex a code as you like, but the procedure will remain the same as mentioned above.

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