Check if a row exists using old mysql_* API

Question

I just want to check and see if a row exists where the $lectureName shows. If a row does exist with the $lectureName somewhere in it, I want the function to return "ass

Answer 1

function checkLectureStatus($lectureName) {
  global $con;
  $lectureName = mysql_real_escape_string($lectureName);
  $sql = "SELECT 1 FROM preditors_assigned WHERE lecture_name='$lectureName'";
  $result = mysql_query($sql) or trigger_error(mysql_error()." ".$sql);
  if (mysql_fetch_row($result)) {
    return 'Assigned';
  }
  return 'Available';
}

however you have to use some abstraction library for the database access.
the code would become

function checkLectureStatus($lectureName) {
  $res = db::getOne("SELECT 1 FROM preditors_assigned WHERE lecture_name=?",$lectureName);
  if($res) {
    return 'Assigned';
  }
  return 'Available';
}