mysql_field_type PHP function to get the specified field type from a result

mysql_field_type function will return the type of field associated with the field. Different field types are varchar, char, int, blob, text, datetime etc… This command takes one result set as input along with a field identifier or an offset. It returns a string holding field type details.

Here is the command.

string mysql_field_type(int result, int field_offset)

We will try to develop one script using our student table to display the field types of all the fields.

<?
$result = mysql_query ("SELECT * FROM student");
$no_of_fields = mysql_num_fields ($result);
$no_of_records = mysql_num_rows ($result);
$i = 0;
$table_name = mysql_field_table ($result, $i);
echo "Your '".$table_name."' table has ".$no_of_fields";
echo " fields and ".$no_of_records." records <BR>";
echo "The table has the following fields <BR>";
while ($i < $no_of_fields) {
// name of the field mysql_field_name
$name = mysql_field_name ($result, $i);
echo "Field name:<b>$name</b><br>";

// Field type  field mysql_field_type
$type = mysql_field_type ($result, $i);
echo "Field type:$type<br>";

$i++;
}
?>

The above code will display the field type with the fields of the student table.

The result of the above script is here

Your student table has 4 fields and 52 records
The table has the following fields
Field name:id
Field type:int

Field name:name
Field type:string

Field name:class
Field type:string

Field name:mark
Field type:int

Using getColumnMeta(0) with PDO

We can get details of the flags with other information.

Here is the code.

$select = $dbo->query('SELECT count(*) FROM student');
$meta = $select->getColumnMeta(0);
//var_dump($meta);
//print_r($meta);

while (list ($key, $val) = each ($meta)) { 
echo "$key -> $val <br>"; 
}

Using INFORMATION_SCHEMA

We can show the details of the column by using table given at INFORMATION_SCHEMA. There is a table COLUMNS which stores all the information.

Here is the code.

$select = $dbo->prepare("SELECT COLUMN_NAME,COLUMN_TYPE,  IS_NULLABLE, COLUMN_DEFAULT
  FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
  WHERE table_name = 'student' AND table_schema = 'sql_tutorial'");

$select->execute();

while($result=$select->fetch(PDO::FETCH_NUM)){

for($j=0;$j<4;$j++){
echo "$result[$j] > ";
}

echo "<br>";
}

PHP MySQL functions MySQL Error Number

Subhendu Mohapatra

Author & Instructor at plus2net

I write and maintain practical tutorials on Python, PHP, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, jQuery, and web development at plus2net. The tutorials focus on clear explanations, working examples, and code that readers can test and adapt while learning.

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PHP MySQL Functions to get the Field type from a result set

Using getColumnMeta(0) with PDO

Using INFORMATION_SCHEMA

Subhendu Mohapatra