How can I make a counter when showing results from mySQL using php script

Question

I am fairly new to programming and got stuck in this infinite while loop when I am trying to show the results of the sql query in an order.

I have the entries ordered by date and time inside mySQL table.

When I display the results it does show up in the right order but I wanted to have a counter and display that result in order 1,2,3..etc.

Right now I am showing the EventIDs in the html table straight from mySQL variable "EVENTID" from table 'eventtable'.

That displays the EVENTIDs which are of course not necessarily in order.

So I tried a while loop but it seems like I can not escape out from the first row of what mysqli_fetch_array() returns.

Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

post the code you have tried

Nouphal.M
– Nouphal.M

2014-02-06 17:26:53 +00:00
Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 17:26 — Nouphal.M
– Nouphal.M, Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 17:26

Marc B · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-06 17:24:46Z

1

Do you need this counter to be part of the actual query results, or just something you display to the user? user display is easy:

$counter = 1;
while($row = fetch_result_row_using_your_db_library()) {
   echo $counter;
   $counter++;
   ... do other stuff ..
}

Doing it at the DB level is a big uglier, involving DB variables and a self-incrementing counter in the query fields:

SET @row := 0;
SELECT @row := @row + 1 AS currow,  * FROM .... WHERE ... ORDER BY ...

answered Feb 6, 2014 at 17:24

Marc B

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5 Comments

smokedMeat Over a year ago

Just displaying to the user.

smokedMeat Over a year ago

Thanks a lot Mark. I put a while loop inside the other while loop of the fetch querry, that's why fell into the infinite while loop! Doh me! Just like my username "smokedMeat"! Cheers!

smokedMeat Over a year ago

I did the self increment in the DB level with my primary key to suffice some other purpose but that's not what I was trying to to display to the user. Thanks again Mark!

Allan Spreys Over a year ago

@Marc B, is there any reason to do not use 'echo $counter++' on a single line?

Marc B Over a year ago

@vlad: keeping it simple... some people need to be spoon-fed answers, as opposed to being handed a package they need to unwrap themselves.

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