How To Query Tables and Loop through the Returning Rows in MySQL?

The best way to query tables and loop through the returning rows is to run the SELECT statement with the mysql_query() function, catch the returning object as a result set, and loop through the result with the mysql_fetch_assoc() function in a while loop as shown in the following sample PHP script:

<?php
  include "mysql_connection.php";

  $sql = "SELECT id, url, time FROM fyi_links";
  $res = mysql_query($sql, $con);
  while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($res)) {
    print($row['id'].",".$row['url'].",".$row['time']."\n");
  }
  mysql_free_result($res);

  mysql_close($con); 
?>

Using mysql_fetch_assoc() is better than other fetch functions, because it allows you to access field values by field names. If you run this script, you will see all rows from the fyi_links table are printed on the screen:

101, dev.fyicenter.com, 2006-07-01 22:29:02
102, dba.fyicenter.com, 2006-07-01 22:29:02
1101, dev.fyicenter.com, 2006-07-01 22:29:02
1102, dba.fyicenter.com, 2006-07-01 22:29:02

Don't forget to call mysql_free_result($res). It is important to free up result set objects as soon as you are done with them.

⇒ Breaking Query Output into Pages in MySQL

⇐ What Is a Result Set Object in MySQL

⇑ Managing Tables and Running Queries with PHP for MySQL

⇑⇑ MySQL Database Tutorials