Question

I am trying to execute a PHP/MySQL query to do the following for a single record:

1. Find all column names that end in “_abc” in the users table
2. Clear these fields for a single record (i.e. the user_id)
3. Leave the data in the remaining columns alone

I have never done anything with database information schema before, so any help would be amazing!

Something like…?

$sth = $dbh->prepare("DESCRIBE users
                      WHERE column_name LIKE '_abc'
                      AND id = $user_id");

$sth->execute();   

Answer 1

SELECT column_name
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_schema = 'db_name'
AND table_name = 'users'
AND column_name like '%_abc';

Then use the returned column names in an update statement

update users 
set col1_abc = null, col2_abc = NULL
where id = $user_id