Re: Building WHERE SQL clauses

Hi all thanks for the responses! What I have is a 6 table db that has each table created from the output of 6 identical laboratory machines (chico, harpo, ...). The out put is a text file which I import as a table named after the machine. I do realize that one solution is to add the machine name as a attribute and concatenate the tables together. I'm going to weigh that change against Bastien's suggestion of UNIONing the selects. I must admit that I'm still rather weak in the SQL department and did try a solution of: SELECT * FROM (chico UNION harpo) WHERE operator = "Bill" OR operator = "Jessica" but that apparently is a SQL syntax error. Thanks again for the insight and any other suggestions you might have. --- Mike ""Bastien Koert"" <phpster@gmail.com> wrote in message news:d7b6cab70809151946h42b626cfr37496eb2583b863a@mail.gmail.com... > On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 1:33 PM, Stephen Wellington < > wellingtonsteve@gmail.com> wrote: > >> You probably want something like this: >> >> SELECT * FROM chico as c, harpo as h WHERE c.operator = "Bill" OR >> c.operator = >> "Jessica" OR h.operator = "Bill" OR h.operator ="Jessica" >> >> However if those tables really are identical I would suggest having a >> good look at your >> database design to see if it can be normalised or something... >> >> Stephen Wellington >> >> On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 4:06 PM, Mike Sullivan <mjsulliv@uvm.edu> wrote: >> > Hello all. I'm using PHP to build a query for a database that consists >> of >> > multiple tables, all with identical attribues. A typical syntax try >> looks >> > like this: SELECT * FROM chico, harpo WHERE operator = "Bill" OR >> operator = >> > "Jessica" >> > >> > MySQL responds with this: Couldn't execute query.Column 'operator' in >> where >> > clause is ambiguous >> > >> > I was hoping that since the tables are identical all I would need to do >> is >> > list the attribute values not have to append them to the table names. >> > Is >> > there any way to do this? Perhaps with a setting in MySQL or a >> > different >> > syntax (JOIN, UNION, ...)? If not are there available some canned code >> > snippets that build these types of strings from values passed in the >> $_POST >> > array. Thanks for any insights on this. --- Mike >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) >> > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php >> > >> > >> >> if the structures and fields are truly the same you can UNION the queries > > select * from chico where operator in('Jessica','William') > union > select * from harpo where operator in('Jessica','William') > > But as suggested, if they are truly similar, the db needs to be looked for > design > > -- > > Bastien > > Cat, the other other white meat >