Populate an Array from MYSQL and check

[DavidPr]

I have a website that requires a visitor to register in order to make a post. I have one or two users that are violating the terms and every day I'm having to delete them. They just re-register, sometimes using a new email address (always a gmail account though).

I want to create a database and enter banned email addresses. Then I want to populate an array using these banned email addresses. When someone tries to register I want to check to see if the email address they're using is in the banned email array, if so the registration will fail.

I can make the database and put the information in it OK, but I'm not familiar with arrays and don't know how to write the code to populate an array from a database or how to write the query to check to see if the email is in the array. Can someone help me with this?

Thanks

[Markus]

You would just do a simple SELECT query using a WHERE clause.

$email = "[e-mail]";
 
// Query searches the database for an entry that has matching emails.
$sql = "SELECT `email` FROM `bad_emails` WHERE `email` = '{$email}' LIMIT 1";
 
$res = mysql_query( $sql );
 
if ( mysql_num_rows( $res ) > 0 )
{
    die ( "Banned email." );
}
else
{
    // good email.
}
 

However, they could just sign up with a new email address. You might look into banning IP addresses, although even that isn't reliable.

- mark.