Question

I am using PHP to populate a database of company records. I have a field for company name and the currency type that they use.
But when I use PHP the record never gets inserted if the currency is an Enlglish pound sign (£). A dollar sign ($) or any other normal character is no problem. The record with a pound sign inserts just fine when I run the sql statement and enter it directly into MySQL Query Browser. But it just doesn’t work when I run the exact same INSERT statement in PHP.

$sql = "INSERT INTO company_test (name, currency) VALUES ('ABC Widgets', '£')";   
$rs = mysql_query($sql, $conn);
//Does not insert a record

$sql = "INSERT INTO company_test (name, currency) VALUES ('ABC Widgets', '$')";   
$rs = mysql_query($sql, $conn);
//A record inserts just fine

//My MySQL version is 5.5.11.  PHP is version 5.3.6.  
//The MySQL table looks like this:
TABLE company_test
FIELD | id       | INTEGER(10) | not null | auto increment
FIELD | name     | VARCHAR(45) | not null
FIELD | currency | VARCHAR(3)  

In MySQL Query Browser the “Table Options” tab shows that for this company_test table my charset is utf8.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Check for errors:

$rs = mysql_query($sql, $conn) or die(mysql_error());
                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Never assume a query succeeds. Even if your sql syntax is perfect, there’s far too many other reasons for failure to NOT check.