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Asked: 2026-05-22T16:44:42+00:00

I’m unsure whether I should be using mysql_result() or mysql_query() when running a query

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I’m unsure whether I should be using mysql_result() or mysql_query() when running a query on a database. Does it make a difference in the case below?

$usertable = 'tableName';
$colName    = 'columnA'; 
$xlookup = 'columnB';

// Connect to Server
$con = mysql_connect($hostname, $username, $password);

// select db
mysql_select_db($dbname);

// run query
$result = mysql_query("SELECT $colName FROM $usertable where $xlookup = 5");

// pass results to webpage
$a = 51;
$x = array($a, $a, mysql_result($result));
echo json_encode($x);

At the moment, whether I use this or not does not make a difference as neither work, but I had thought an error would stop the code from running.

I was trying to use the below code to identify any errors but am not sure if it is correct or not.

// This shows the actual query sent to MySQL, and the error. Useful for debugging.
if (!$result) {
    $message  = 'Invalid query: ' . mysql_error() . "\n";
    $message .= 'Whole query: ' . $query;
    die("<html><script language='JavaScript'>alert('Unable to run query'), $message</script></html>");
}
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    mysql_query does the query and returns a resultset.

    mysql_result returns the rows from that resultset for you to play with.

    Look up some examples here.

    mysql_result has the distinction of being able to return specific fields, but as other poster noted is slower than the other fetch functions.

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