PHP Variable in Select Statement

Question

I\'ve written this PHP-Script which is working, and now I want to change the row name into a variable to (not sure if row is correct), I mean the \"name\" from the selec

Answer 1

I believe you are confusing matters (unintentionally) due to your use of the word 'row'. Judging by your example you mean field/column. It sounds like you wish to specify the fields to select using a variable which can be done by any of these methods...

$fields = "name, age";

$sql = "SELECT $fields FROM table";
$sql = "SELECT {$fields} FROM table";
$sql = "SELECT ".$fields." FROM table";

NB it is important that you have secure date in the $fields element, I would suggest using a whitelist of allowed values i.e.

// assuming $_POST['fields'] looks something like array('name','age','hack');
$allowed = array('name', 'age');
$fields = array();

foreach ($_POST['fields'] as $field) {
   if (in_array($field, $allowed)) {
      $fields[] = $field;
   }
$fields = implode(', ', $fields);