Ok, so I have noticed something I never noticed before with MySql arrays in php, returned by mysql_query.

 

I was just using this snippet of code to look at the complete structure of the MySql array,

 

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM test.$tableName") or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
echo "<pre>";
print_r($row);

 

I was expecting to see an array like

 

Array
(
   [id] => 2
   [title] => IS Staff Induction
   [course_date] => 2010-05-13
   [start_time] => 09:30:00
   [end_time] => 12:30:00
   [availability] => 5
   [location] => 
)

 

but instead got

 

Array
(
   [0] => 2
   [id] => 2
   [1] => IS Staff Induction
   [title] => IS Staff Induction
   [2] => 2010-05-13
   [course_date] => 2010-05-13
   [3] => 09:30:00
   [start_time] => 09:30:00
   [4] => 12:30:00
   [end_time] => 12:30:00
   [5] => 5
   [availability] => 5
   [6] => 
   [location] => 
)

 

now why is there duplication of the data with a numerical index and an index of the MySql field name?

 

Is there a way to stop this behaviour and return just the data, indexed by field name?

 

Thanks!!

Edited July 12, 201115 yr by frupence

mysql_fetch_array() gives you results based on the column title and its index in the order of fields. If you just want the associative names, use mysql_fetch_assoc() instead

Spot on thanks alot Jay!