Question

I want to make a simple function that I can call on to query my database. I pass the “where” part of the query to it and in the code below, my $q variable is correct. However, what should I then do to be able to use the data? I’m so confused at how to do something I’m sure is extremely easy. Any help is greatly appreciated!

function getListings($where_clause)
{
 $q = "SELECT * FROM `listings` $where_clause";
 $result = mysql_query($q,$dbh);
 foreach (mysql_fetch_array($result) as $row) {
  $listingdata[] = $row;
 }
 return $listingdata;
}

Answer 1

Your function should be like this:

function getListings($where_clause, $dbh)
{
    $q = "SELECT * FROM `listings` $where_clause";

    $result = mysql_query($q, $dbh);

    $listingdata = array();
    while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
        $listingdata[] = $row;

    return $listingdata;
}

Improvements over your function:

1. Adds MySQL link $dbh in function arguments. Passit, otherwise query will not work.
2. Use while loop instead of foreach. Read more here.
3. Initialize listingdata array so that when there is no rows returned, you still get an empty array instead of nothing.