Question

This might be a noob question but I can’t find anything wrong with my code and I’m still getting mysql errors.

I am using this code to submit a form to a MYSQL database ->

    if($forename == '' || $surname == '' || $email == '' || $address1 == '' || $address2 == '' || $terms == ''){
        $_SESSION['status'] = 'error';
    } else {
            $sql = "INSERT INTO dbEntry ('forename','surname','email','address1','address2','terms')
            VALUES ('$forename','$surname','$email','$address1','$address2','$terms')" or die(mysql_error());
            $results = mysql_query($sql);

            if ($results) { echo "Details added."; }

            //if (mysql_error()) echo mysql_error();

        $_SESSION['status'] = 'success';
    }

//Print query for debugging ->
echo $sql;

But it’s throwing this error ->

INSERT INTO dbEntry (‘forename’,’surname’,’email’,’address1′,’address2′,’terms’) VALUES (‘asd’,’asd’,’[e-mail]’,’asd’,’as’,’NULL’)
Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ”forename’,’surname’,’email’,’address1′,’address2′,’terms’) VALUES (‘asd’,’as’ at line 1

I have created a table to this structure ->

id INT(10) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
PRIMARY KEY(id),
forename VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL,
surname VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL,
email VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL,
address1 VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL,
address2 VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL,
terms TINYINT(1)

I can’t see any syntax errors, where am I going wrong? Apologies if I included too much info.

Cheers

Answer 1

Do not surround the column names in single quotes in the insert column list.

INSERT INTO dbEntry (forename,surname,email,address1,address2,terms) VALUES ('asd','asd','[e-mail]','asd','as','NULL') 

If your column names happen to be MySQL reserved keywords, or include spaces, hyphens, or other special but valid characters, you must surround them in backquotes:

INSERT INTO tbl (`desc`, `space table`, `etc`)...

As a hint, when MySQL prints a syntax error, 99% of the time the error occurs at the exact character where the right syntax to use near " opening quote begins.