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    mysql_field_type

    (PHP 4, PHP 5)

    mysql_field_type — Get the type of the specified field in a result

    Warning

    This extension was deprecated in PHP 5.5.0, and it was removed in PHP 7.0.0. Instead, the MySQLi or PDO_MySQL extension should be used. See also MySQL: choosing an API guide. Alternatives to this function include:

    Description

    mysql_field_type(resource $result, int $field_offset): string

    mysql_field_type() is similar to the mysql_field_name() function. The arguments are identical, but the field type is returned instead.

    Parameters

    result

    The result resource that is being evaluated. This result comes from a call to mysql_query().

    field_offset

    The numerical field offset. The field_offset starts at 0. If field_offset does not exist, an error of level E_WARNING is also issued.

    Return Values

    The returned field type will be one of "int", "real", "string", "blob", and others as detailed in the » MySQL documentation.

    Examples

    Example #1 mysql_field_type() example

    <?php
    mysql_connect    ("localhost", "mysql_username", "mysql_password");
    mysql_select_db("mysql");
    $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM func");
    $fields = mysql_num_fields($result);
    $rows = mysql_num_rows($result);
    $table = mysql_field_table($result, 0);
    echo     "Your '" . $table . "' table has " . $fields . " fields and " . $rows . " record(s)\n";
    echo     "The table has the following fields:\n";
    for (    $i=0; $i < $fields; $i++) {
    $type = mysql_field_type($result, $i);
    $name = mysql_field_name($result, $i);
    $len = mysql_field_len($result, $i);
    $flags = mysql_field_flags($result, $i);
    echo     $type . " " . $name . " " . $len . " " . $flags . "\n";
    }
    mysql_free_result($result);
    mysql_close();
    ?>

    The above example will output something similar to:

    Your 'func' table has 4 fields and 1 record(s)
The table has the following fields:
string name 64 not_null primary_key binary
int ret 1 not_null
string dl 128 not_null
string type 9 not_null enum

    Notes

    Note:

    For backward compatibility, the following deprecated alias may be used: mysql_fieldtype()

    See Also

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    User Contributed Notes 6 notes

    up
    3
    swalif_mesa at hotmail dot com
    21 years ago
    Hmm for the previous comment, note that SHOW FIELDS is an alias of SHOW COLUMNS. Very useful if you need to search the mysql-documentation. Here is the link anyway...
    http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/SHOW_DATABASE_INFO.html
    up
    2
    fusionstream at gmail dot com
    18 years ago
    krang at krang dot org dot uk
    Condensed version of what KRANG said.

    To get info on the MYSQL field type, use this code

    <?
    $result     = mysql_query("SHOW FIELDS FROM db_name");

    $i = 1;
    while (    $row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) { //go through one field at a time
          echo "Field $i: ";
          print_r($row) //display all information about A field which can be accessed thru the "$row" array.
          $i++;
    }
    ?>

    Will display something like:
    Field 1: Array ( [Field] => SN [Type] => mediumint(8) unsigned [Null] => [Key] => PRI [Default] => [Extra] => auto_increment ) , SN, mediumint(8) unsigned
    Field 2: Array ( [Field] => ENTITY_ID [Type] => varchar(20) [Null] => [Key] => [Default] => [Extra] => ) , ENTITY_ID, varchar(20)
    up
    0
    c dot futterlieb at bluewin dot ch
    17 years ago
    Additional to the note below:
    If you're using the "SHOW FIELDS" syntax, be sure that you're adding the table name instead of the db name in the "FROM" parameter:

    <?php
    $result     = mysql_query("SHOW FIELDS FROM table");
    ?>

    Also possible:

    <?php
    $result     = mysql_query("SHOW FIELDS FROM table.db");
    ?>

    or this:

    <?php
    $result     = mysql_query("DESCRIBE table");
    ?>
    http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/describe.html
    up
    -1
    fred at dinkler dot com
    17 years ago
    In MySQL 4.1.x, the four TEXT types (TINYTEXT, TEXT, MEDIUMTEXT, and LONGTEXT) return 'blob" as field types, not "string".
    up
    -2
    mariob at menta dot net
    21 years ago
    For version 4.3.4, types returned are:

    STRING, VAR_STRING: string
    TINY, SHORT, LONG, LONGLONG, INT24: int
    FLOAT, DOUBLE, DECIMAL: real
    TIMESTAMP: timestamp
    YEAR: year
    DATE: date
    TIME: time
    DATETIME: datetime
    TINY_BLOB, MEDIUM_BLOB, LONG_BLOB, BLOB: blob
    NULL: null
    Any other: unknown
    up
    -4
    krang at krang dot org dot uk
    22 years ago
    The field type returns what PHP classifies the data found in the field, not how it is stored in the database; use the following example to retrieve the MySQL information about the field....

    $USERNAME = '';
    $PASSWORD = '';

    $DATABASE = '';
    $TABLE_NAME = '';

    mysql_connect('localhost', $USERNAME, $PASSWORD)
        or die ("Could not connect");

    $result = mysql_query("SHOW FIELDS FROM $DATABASE.$TABLE_NAME");

    $i = 0;

    while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
      echo $row['Field'] . ' ' . $row['Type'];
    }
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