Send a MySQL query

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- PHP Manual
- MySQL Functions
- Send a MySQL query

# mysql_query

(PHP 4, PHP 5)

mysql_query — Send 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:

- mysqli_query()
- PDO::query()

### 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

- mysql_connect() - Open a connection to a MySQL Server
- mysql_error() - Returns the text of the error message from previous MySQL operation
- mysql_real_escape_string() - Escapes special characters in a string for use in an SQL statement
- mysql_result() - Get result data
- mysql_fetch_assoc() - Fetch a result row as an associative array
- mysql_unbuffered_query() - Send an SQL query to MySQL without fetching and buffering the result rows