Re: Newbie Variable Question

Jackson Linux wrote:

Hi, All, A php variable question. I've done this to take the requested category from the URL (www.foo.com/file.htm?r=1) and use it to build the page:

if the category number is really always supposed to be an integer (and that it must always be greater than 0, actually in 'real' DBs an id doesn't have to be a positive number, zero and minus-numbers are also fine) then: if ( isset($_GET['r']) &&

     !empty($_GET['r']) &&
     ($r = intval($_GET['r'])) )

{ // ... } else { // ... } if you are sure that $r is a positive integer there is no need to wrap it in quotes for use in the SQL, or why not place the single quotes directly in the SQL: $r = 1; $sql = " SELECT cv.cv_id,cv.category,dates,cv.job_title,cv.company,cv.job,cv.sort,jobcat.category FROM cv, cvjobcats, jobcat WHERE cvjobcats.cv_id=cv.cv_id AND cvjobcats.jobcat_id = $r AND jobcat.jobcat_id=cvjobcats.jobcat_id"; // OR $sql = " SELECT cv.cv_id,cv.category,dates,cv.job_title,cv.company,cv.job,cv.sort,jobcat.category FROM cv, cvjobcats, jobcat WHERE cvjobcats.cv_id=cv.cv_id AND cvjobcats.jobcat_id = '$r' AND jobcat.jobcat_id=cvjobcats.jobcat_id"; i.e. DONT WRAP change $r into a string which contains an integer wrapped in single-quotes - JUST LEAVE IT AS AN INTEGER.

if (isset($_GET['r']) && !empty($_GET['r'])) { $r = "'{$_GET['r']}'"; //Set the variable $r to mean the category number $fields = '*'; } else { $where = ''; $fields = 'cv.cv_id,cv.category,dates,cv.job_title,cv.company,cv.job,cv.sort, jobcat.category'; $sort = "ORDER BY cv.sort"; } $sql = " SELECT cv.cv_id,cv.category,dates,cv.job_title,cv.company,cv.job,cv.sort,jobcat .category FROM cv, cvjobcats, jobcat WHERE cvjobcats.cv_id=cv.cv_id AND cvjobcats.jobcat_id = $r AND jobcat.jobcat_id=cvjobcats.jobcat_id"; In this case $r comes out literally to the number surrounded by single quotes (ie, '1'). And it works great. But I need *just* the number for something later (to fetch an include

indeed - STORE THE NUMBER IN $r - leave the single quotes out of it!

based on the category selected by $r). Since I've set the value of the field cv.category to mean the english translation from the intersecting table, using

.... and then this will 'just work'

<php include_once "/path/to/cv.$r.include.php"; ?> asks for cv.'1'.include.php ... And I need it to ask for cv.1.include.php How can I make a variable to fetch the literal number from the field cv.category?

if you a really stubborn SOB then you could do this: $r = "'1'"; $x = (int) str_replace("'",'',$r); // warning this is lame

Thanks in advance! Jack