PHP Table data output isn't retaining structure

Question

I have a mySQL database, and I'm using PHP to grab it and display it in a HTML table. It's set up like this:

<table>
 <tr>
  <td>Title 1</td>
  <td>Title 2</td>
 </tr>

<?php

$i=0;
while ($i < $num) {

$col1=mysql_result($result,$i,"col1");
$col2=mysql_result($result,$i,"col2");

?>

 <tr>
  <td><?php echo $col1; ?></td>
  <td><?php echo $col2; ?></td>
 </tr>
</table>

<?php

  $i++;
  echo '<br />';
  }

?>

The problem: for the first set of data it pulls, the columns align with the titles. But for every repeating row after that, the columns are separated by one space, and don't align with their titles. It looks like this:

Title 1       Title 2

col1          col2

col1 col2
col1 col2

Sorry if the wording is confusing.

mash · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-19 04:14:53Z

2

You're closing the table inside the loop, try to pull the </table> outside of the loop.

answered Aug 19, 2012 at 4:14

mash

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3 Comments

Paul Over a year ago

Thank you! So simple. The only problem now, is that somehow making that change now inserted like 50 line breaks at the top of the page, and I'm not sure why.

mash Over a year ago

You can eliminate the echo '<br/>';

Paul Over a year ago

Ah, thanks a lot. I also see that I was downvoted, probably because it was such a simple question? Should I avoid asking beginner questions here or something?

j08691 · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-19 04:14:41Z

0

Move the </table> to be after your last block of PHP. You're repeatedly closing the table when you just want to loop and create new rows. Save the closing of the table until after you while loop is done.

answered Aug 19, 2012 at 4:14

j08691

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Comments

Fluffeh · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-19 04:20:38Z

You are closing the table inside the loop. You need to close it after you have finished it.

<table>
 <tr>
  <td>Title 1</td>
  <td>Title 2</td>
 </tr>

<?php
    $i=0;
    while ($i < $num) 
    {
        $col1=mysql_result($result,$i,"col1");
        $col2=mysql_result($result,$i,"col2");
        ?>
         <tr>
          <td><?php echo $col1; ?></td>
          <td><?php echo $col2; ?></td>
         </tr>
        <?php
        $i++;
        echo '<br />';
    }
?>
</table>

For extra clarity, the first row worked as you expected as you hadn't closed the table yet.

Given that the other table info as being posted without an opening <table> tag, you would think that it wouldn't display at all - but most browsers these days will try to correct HTML on the fly, so certain things (like missing table tags when opening) are displayed as if there was one right in front of it.

Klemorali · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-19 04:36:09Z

As mentioned by others. Your table was closing inside of your loop. I pulled all of the PHP code together to help avoid confusion with the loop.

   <table>
    <tr>
     <td>Title 1</td>
     <td>Title 2</td>
    </tr>

   <?php

   $num = $mysql_result->num_rows;
   for($i = 0; $i < $num; $i++) {
    $row = $mysql_result->fetch_assoc();
    echo '<tr>\n';
    echo '<td>'.$row['col1'].'</td>\n';
    echo '<td>'.$row['col2'].'</td>\n';
    echo '</tr>\n';
    echo '<br />';
   }
   ?>

   </table>

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