What is mysql_fetch

Two technologies complement each other with no questions asked, PHP and MySQL. This article will teach you how to use PHP to fetch data stored in a MySQL database.

What is mysql_fetch_array()

The PHP mysql_fetch_array() is a function that allows you to fetch a MySQL row as a numeric array or a PHP associative array.

It gets a row from the mysql_query() function and returns the result as an array. If the function fails, it produces a Boolean false.

The syntax of the function can be expressed as:

mysql_fetch_array(data, array_type);

The parameter data refers to a specific data pointer. This is usually the result of the mysql_query() method.

You can also specify the array type to be returned from the function.

Supported values for this parameter include:

MYSQL_ASSOC – Returns an associative array.
MYSQL_NUM – Return a numeric array.
MYSQL_BOTH – Both numeric and/or associative arrays.

Let us explore how we can use this function using PHP examples.

How to use mysql_fetch_array()

Take a look at the code snippet provided below. It shows an example of how to use the function.

<?php
   $mysqli = **new** mysqli("localhost", "root", "mysql", "sakila");
   **if** (mysqli -> connect_errno) {
     **die**("Error connecting to server" . $mysqli -> connect_error);
   }
   $query = "SELECT * FROM film WHERE rating > 8";
   $result = $mysqli -> query($query);
 
   $sql_array = $result -> fetch_array();
   print_r($sql_array);
 ?>

The above script connects to the MySQL database using the mysql_connect() function.

We then use the mysql_query() method to perform a query to the database and select the rows where the rating is greater than 8 in the film table of the sakila database.

To get an array, we store the result from the mysql_query() and pass that value tomysql_fetch_array().

Example 2

The following example shows how to use the MYSQL_NUM option to return a numerical array.

<?php
   $mysqli = **new** mysqli("localhost", "root", "mysql", "sakila");
   **if** (mysqli -> connect_errno) {
     **die**("Error connecting to server" . $mysqli -> connect_error);
   }
   $query = "SELECT * FROM film WHERE rating > 8";
   $result = $mysqli -> query($query);
   **while** ($sql_array = fetch_array($result, MYSQL_NUM)) {
     printf("id %s", $row[0], $row[1]);
   }
   mysql_free_result($result);
   print_($sql_array);
 ?>

Other variations of the code are as:

<?php
   $mysqli = **new** mysqli("localhost", "root", "mysql", "sakila");
   **if** (mysqli -> connect_errno) {
     **die**("Error connecting to server" . $mysqli -> connect_error);
   }
   $query = "SELECT * FROM film WHERE rating > 8";
   $result = $mysqli -> query($query);
   **while** ($sql_array = fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
     printf("id %s" "name", $row["id"], $row["name"]);
   }
   mysql_free_result($result);
   print_($sql_array);
 ?>

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned how to use the PHP mysql_fetch_array() function to fetch the results of a row as an array.

What is mysql_fetch_array()