Question

I want to insert a few certain values from a php file, to my MySQL database, using a query.
I use the following code snippet:

mysql_query("INSERT INTO `text` VALUES ('', '$user_id', '$text', '"$categories"')");

but I get an error saying the following:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in
C:\xampp\htdocs\Project\Func\idea.func.php on line 10

Does anyone know what I’m doing wrong?

I have stated both variables, earlier, by making them into real escape strings. My MySQL table structure is as follows:

idea_id (auto)
user_id 
text
categories
timestamp

Answer 1

You need to use string concatenation:

mysql_query("INSERT INTO `text` VALUES ('', '$user_id', '$text', '" . $categories . "')");

or get rid of the double quotes surrounding $categories:

mysql_query("INSERT INTO `text` VALUES ('', '$user_id', '$text', '$categories')");