PHP giving variable error when using SESSION

Question

All, I'm trying to write a mySQL query but PHP is giving me an error. The line that is giving me an error is:

$qry = "Select * from vendor_options where vendor_option_id='$_SESSION[pav_vendor_categories_$i]'";

The above code is in a for loop so that is how the $i is getting populated. The error I'm receiving is:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE, expecting ']'

Any ideas on what is wrong? Thanks!

I will never understand why people construct their strings like that. Just concatenate or use sprintf! much tidier and cleaner. — Flukey
– Flukey, Commented Nov 29, 2011 at 14:15
repeated concatenation gets ugly quickly, and sprintf is far less readable in the long run. — Marc B
– Marc B, Commented Nov 29, 2011 at 14:34
How is sprintf less readable than doing, for example, what the OP has done? And what would you recommend to be the most readable of methods? curious.... — Flukey
– Flukey, Commented Nov 29, 2011 at 14:38

balkon_smoke · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-29 14:14:15Z

3

$sVendorId = $_SESSION['pav_vendor_categories_' . $i];
$sQuery = "SELECT * FROM vendor_options WHERE vendor_option_id='{$sVendorId}'";

This your working code.
Build vendor option ID outside of query — this will make you code more readable.

answered Nov 29, 2011 at 14:14

balkon_smoke

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6 Comments

Flukey Over a year ago

if it's an id, you don't need to wrap it with the apostrophes.

balkon_smoke Over a year ago

MySQL will ignore them :) but if vendor_option_id is a string value. but you didn't escape $sVendorId this is a problem.

Geert Over a year ago

I'd just cast the value to an integer, as a way of cleaning too.

balkon_smoke Over a year ago

if you sure that there will be only integer, than use intval() and remove quotes from query.

Flukey Over a year ago

Just because MySQL will ignore it, doesn't mean it's a good idea. It's not good practice. I'd also be concerned if a field which has the word 'id' in it is a string type. But this wouldn't surprise me....

|

Naftali · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-29 14:12:52Z

2

Try this;

$qry = "Select * from vendor_options where 
          vendor_option_id='{$_SESSION["pav_vendor_categories_{$i}"]}'";

Demo: http://codepad.org/0nHsFZ8i

answered Nov 29, 2011 at 14:12

Naftali

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Comments

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:48:47Z

0

should be :

$qry = "Select * from vendor_options where vendor_option_id='".$_SESSION["pav_vendor_categories_".$i]."'";

but dont do it like that... read about sql injection

hope this helps

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:48

CommunityBot

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answered Nov 29, 2011 at 14:14

pleasedontbelong

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3 Comments

Naftali Over a year ago

pav_vendor_categories_$i will throw something. (error or a warning, not sure)

pleasedontbelong Over a year ago

@Neal, no it doesn't. I've tested $i = 1;$_SESSION["foo1"] = "bar";echo $_SESSION["foo$i"]; it outputs "bar".. because it has double quotes =) anyway, it's kinda ugly so i've changed the code of my answer

Naftali Over a year ago

you did not have the quotes there before.

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