How To Query Tables and Loop through the Returning Rows in PHP?

The best way to query tables and loop through the returning rows is to run the SELECT statement with the catch the mysql_query() function, catch the returning object as a result set, and loop through the result with the mysql_fetch_assoc() function in a while loop as shown in the following sample PHP script:

<?php
  include "mysql_connection.php";

  $sql = "SELECT id, url, time FROM fyi_links";
  $rs = mysql_query($sql, $con);
  while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($rs)) {
    print($row['id'].", ".$row['url'].", ".$row['time']."\n");
  }
  mysql_free_result($rs);

  mysql_close($con); 
?>

Using mysql_fetch_assoc() is better than other fetch functions, because it allows you to access field values by field names. If you run this script, you will see all rows from the fyi_links table are printed on the screen:

101, dev.fyicenter.com, 2006-02-26 22:29:02
102, dba.fyicenter.com, 2006-02-26 22:29:02
1101, dev.fyicenter.com, 2006-02-26 22:29:02
1102, dba.fyicenter.com, 2006-02-26 22:29:02

⇒ Updating Existing Rows in PHP

⇐ What Is a Result Set Object in PHP

⇑ Working with MySQL Database in PHP

⇑⇑ PHP Tutorials