Question

the below query works and returns results

$query = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE District = '" . $var . "' ORDER BY Form_Date DESC";

where as if I substitute the word “District” with a variable, it doesn’t work

$query = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE '" . $distvar . "' = '" . $var . "' ORDER BY Form_Date DESC";

what is wrong with this one and how can I make it work?

Answer 1

Remove the quotes surrounding the field you are testing for, or replace them with backticks to save you from the mysql parser mistaking it for a potentially reserved word:

$query = "SELECT * FROM `table` WHERE `" . $distvar . "` = '" . $var . "' ORDER BY Form_Date DESC";