Wrong syntax for Mysql? [closed]

Question

$SQL="SELECT first_name FROM people WHERE fname = '$fname' INSERT INTO (first_name) VALUES (fname)";

Anything wrong with this? Trying to insert a value from a user defined variable into a mysql table

Warning: mysql_num_rows() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in D:\wamp\www\Pxxxx\process.php on line 44

This is the error

$fname is a user defined variable first_name is the column I'm trying to insert it into and it's in a table called people

Answer 1

You have the order inverted. It seems like you are looking for INSERT .. SELECT syntax (see MySQL documentation here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/insert-select.html)

INSERT INTO target_table (first_name)
SELECT fname
FROM people
WHERE fname = ?

It was unclear from your example what the name of the table you were trying to insert data into is, so I just listed it as target_table here.

Answer 2

Your SQL statement has to be reordered like this:

"INSERT  INTO people (fname) SELECT '$fname' FROM dual;"

This will select the value of $fname from the pseudo table "dual" and insert the value into "people".

Maybe this is more suitable:

"INSERT INTO people (fname) VALUES ('$fname');"

This snippet show you a simple insert statement.

Note: Please have a look for SQL Injection at Wikipedia. The code you are writing is open for these kinds of attacks. If you are writing PHP code, have a look for Prepared Statements and mysqli to prevent these attacks.