Question

Is it possible to write multiple conditions in a while loop? If not, what is an alternative? I tried it and was returned with an error relating the line of code that sets up the conditions for the while loop. Here is an example of what I mean.

$s = 1;

while ($result_row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query) && $s < 5)
{
echo $result_row['id'];
$s++;
}

Answer 1

That is possible, but because = has lower precedence than && you need parentheses to ensure that your statement is interpreted correctly:

while (($result_row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query)) && ($s < 5))

The parentheses around $s < 5 are not required here, but I’ve included them for clarity.

However it would be easier just to modify your query to only return 5 rows, by adding LIMIT 5.

SELECT ...
FROM yourtable
ORDER BY ...
LIMIT 5