how to call a column value from a tablein database

[satyasampan]

$sql = "UPDATE `students` 
   SET `name` = '$name',
   `surname` = '$surname',
   `father` = '$father',
   `mobile` = '$mobile',
   `address` = '$address' 
   WHERE 
      `students`.`rollnum` = '$501' LIMIT 1";
 
mysql_query($sql) or die ("Error: ".mysql_error());
 
WHERE `students`.`rollnum` = '501'

how can i update a rollnumber without giving its value directly... if i want to update details of 502,it ll be waste of time to open this file and change number each time...
please help

[Luuk]

  $rollnum="501";
  $sql= "....WHERE `students`.`rollnum` = '$rollnum' LIMIT 1";
 

[mskctg]

use a variable for rollNum
your code should be look like this

$sql = "UPDATE students SET name = $name, surname = $surname, father = $father, mobile = $mobile, address = $address, Where rollnum = $rollnum";
mysql_query($sql) or die ("Error: ".mysql_error());

[Luuk]

@mskctg: but wat if $name contains one (or more) spaces?
The original code was better, it included the name in single quotes..

About 'LIMIT 1': we dont have enough info to tell if this is correct, or not....

[mskctg]

@Luuk: Why should we use spaces in variable name? If its needed we should use underscore like $first_name.

'LIMIT' keyword is used to limit the query result. if we use 'LIMIT 1' it will show only one row from our query result. if we use 'LIMIT 5' it will show first five rows.

'LIMIT' keyword take TWO Parameter. Suppose We use 'LIMIT 5,10' it will show 10 rows starting from row number 5.