Question

Getting this error mysql_fetch_assoc() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given when I return my query

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM tempusers
    WHERE 'firstname' LIKE '%$data%' 
    OR 'lastname' LIKE '%$data%'
    OR 'description' LIKE '%$data%'
    OR 'title' LIKE '%$data%'");

if (! $query){
    echo'Database error: ' . mysql_error();
}
while($row=mysql_fetch_assoc($query)){
    $description = $row['description'];
    echo $description;
}

Specifically, the while loop. Not understanding why I’m getting. I’m thinking it’s because of my use of LIKE, I am unsure if I am using the wildcard's %% correctly with my query. I would appreciate knowing how to rid of this error and why it happened

Answer 1

• use CONCAT() function
• use backtick instead of single quote on column names (but in this case it is not required since your column name is not a reserved keyword or it does not contain invalid characters on it)

query,

SELECT * FROM tempusers
WHERE  `firstname` LIKE CONCAT('%', '$data', '%')
    OR `lastname` LIKE CONCAT('%', '$data', '%')
    OR `description` LIKE CONCAT('%', '$data', '%')
    OR `title` LIKE CONCAT('%', '$data', '%')

one more thing, your query is vulnerable with SQL Injection, please take time to read the article below,

• How can I prevent SQL injection in PHP?