jokes.php, p77-79 PHP/MySQL book

[StevenHu]

I was studying the code line by line for jokes.php on pages 77-79 of your PHP/MySQL book.

I notice in one place you made the query into a variable $sql. Later on you did the query straight without a variable. Is there a reason you made the query a variable the first time?

Query is a variable:

  if (isset($_POST['joketext'])) {
    $joketext = $_POST['joketext'];
    $sql = "INSERT INTO joke SET
        joketext='$joketext',
        jokedate=CURDATE()";
    if (@mysql_query($sql)) {
      echo '<p>Your joke has been added.</p>';

Query is not a variable:

 $result = @mysql_query('SELECT joketext FROM joke');
  if (!$result) {
    exit('<p>Error performing query: ' .
        mysql_error() . '</p>');
  }

Thanks!
Steve

[shotaz]

as far as i know if you define a variable you can use it later on without redefining it. As long as the variable is defined before you make a call for it then it should work

[StevenHu]

I agree. However, both queries were at the end of the code. $sql was not referenced after it was introduced the first time. I suspect it was coded that way out of habit.

Could this $sql be accessed from another .php page? There's no $_POST linked to it, so I don't think so.

I'm going over everything the third or fourth time because I'm trying to understand every line of code I put down.

Thanks!
Steve

[Kevin Yank]

There is no particular reason to choose one over the other, Steve, although technically the approach that does not use a variable will be ever so slightly faster.

In the examples you cited, I'd say it just came down to the length of the SQL query—if I had tried to cram the first SQL query into the mysql_query call, it would have made the code more difficult to read, whereas the second query was short enough to fit comfortably.

[StevenHu]

Thanks, Kevin! You opted in favor of the reader!

Best wishes,
Steve