PHP fetch_row() and mysqli_fetch_row()

This article is created to cover the two functions of PHP, that are:

• fetch_row()
• mysqli_fetch_row()

Both the functions are used to fetch next row of result set as an enumerated array. The only difference is, the fetch_row() is used with PHP MySQLi object-oriented script, whereas the mysqli_fetch_row() is used with PHP MySQLi procedural script.

PHP fetch_row()

The PHP fetch_row() function fetches the next row of a result set as an enumerated array, in PHP MySQLi object-oriented style. For example:

<?php
   $server = "localhost";
   $user = "root";
   $pass = "";
   $db = "codescracker";
   
   $conn = new mysqli($server, $user, $pass, $db);
   
   if($conn -> connect_errno)
   {
      echo "Connection to the database failed!<BR>";
      echo "Reason: ", $conn -> connect_error;
      exit();
   }
   
   $sql = "SELECT name, email FROM customer";
   
   $result = $conn -> query($sql);
   if($result)
   {
      while($row = $result -> fetch_row())
      {
         echo "Name: ", $row[0];
         echo "<BR>";
         echo "Email: ", $row[1];
         echo "<HR>";
      }
   }
   else
   {
      echo "Something went wrong!<BR>";
      echo "Error Description: ", $conn -> error;
   }
   $result -> free_result();
   $conn -> close();
?>

The output produced by above PHP example on fetch_row(), is shown in the snapshot given below:

Note - The mysqli() is used to open a connection to the MySQL database server, in object-oriented style.

Note - The new keyword is used to create a new object.

Note - The connect_errno is used to get/return the error code (if any) from last connect call, in object-oriented style.

Note - The connect_error is used to get the error description (if any) from last connection, in object-oriented style.

Note - The query() is used to perform query on the MySQL database, in object-oriented style.

Note - The free_result() is used to free the stored result, in object-oriented style.

Note - The error is used to return the description of error (if any), by the most recent function call, in object-oriented style.

Note - The close() is used to close an opened connection, in object-oriented style.

In above example, the following code:

$row = $result -> fetch_row()

written as the conditional expression of while loop, to continue fetching the row, until the last one.

Also, since using the SQL code SELECT name, email FROM customer, only the column named name and email was fetched, therefore $row[0] refers to name, whereas $row[1] refers to email.

The above example, can also be written as:

<?php
   $conn = new mysqli("localhost", "root", "", "codescracker");
   
   if(!$conn -> connect_errno)
   {
      if($result = $conn -> query("SELECT name, email FROM customer"))
      {
         while($row = $result -> fetch_row())
         {
            echo "Name: ", $row[0];
            echo "<BR>";
            echo "Email: ", $row[1];
            echo "<HR>";
         }
      }
   }
   $conn -> close();
?>

PHP fetch_row() Syntax

The syntax of fetch_row() in PHP, is:

$result -> fetch_row()

where $result refers to the result set that was returned while querying the data.

PHP mysqli_fetch_row()

The PHP mysqli_fetch_row() function fetches the next row of a result set as an enumerated array, in PHP MySQLi procedural style. For example:

<?php
   $conn = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "", "codescracker");
   
   if(!mysqli_connect_errno())
   {
      if($result = mysqli_query($conn, "SELECT name, email FROM customer"))
      {
         while($row = mysqli_fetch_row($result))
         {
            echo "Name: ", $row[0];
            echo "<BR>";
            echo "Email: ", $row[1];
            echo "<HR>";
         }
      }
   }
   mysqli_close($conn);
?>

Note - The mysqli_connect() is used to open a connection to the MySQL database server, in procedural style.

Note - The mysqli_connect_errno() is used to get/return the error code (if any) from last connect call, in procedural style.

Note - The mysqli_query() is used to perform query on the MySQL database, in procedural style.

Note - The mysqli_close() is used to close an opened connection to the MySQL database, in procedural style.

Fetch All Columns of All Rows using PHP MySQLi Object-Oriented

To fetch all columns of all rows, just change the SQL code to SELECT * FROM customer. Now if you write $row[0], then it will refer to the first column of all rows, that is id in my case. Here is the complete script:

<?php
   $conn = new mysqli("localhost", "root", "", "codescracker");
   
   if(!$conn -> connect_errno)
   {
      $sql = "SELECT * FROM customer";
      if($result = $conn -> query($sql))
      {
         while($row = $result -> fetch_row())
         {
            echo "Name: ", $row[1];
            echo "<BR>";
            echo "Age: ", $row[2];
            echo "<BR>";
            echo "Email: ", $row[3];
            echo "<HR>";
         }
         $result -> free_result();
      }
   }
   $conn -> close();
?>

The output should be:

Name: Olivia
Age: 28
Email: codescracker.com@gmail.com

Name: Charlotte
Age: 24
Email: charloette@xyz.com

Name: Lucas
Age: 42
Email: newmail@xyz.com

Name: Sophia
Age: 29
Email: sophia@xyz.com

Name: Benjamin
Age: 31
Email: benjamin@xyz.com

Since name, age, and email are available at second, third and fourth column number, therefore I have changed the index. Also, because indexing in PHP arrays, by default, starts with 0, therefore index no. 1 refers to the second column.

Fetch All Columns of All Rows using PHP MySQLi Procedural

<?php
   $conn = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "", "codescracker");
   
   if(!mysqli_connect_errno())
   {
      $sql = "SELECT * FROM customer";
      if($result = mysqli_query($conn, $sql))
      {
         while($row = mysqli_fetch_row($result))
         {
            echo "Name: ", $row[1];
            echo "<BR>";
            echo "Age: ", $row[2];
            echo "<BR>";
            echo "Email: ", $row[3];
            echo "<HR>";
         }
         mysqli_free_result($result);
      }
   }
   mysqli_close($conn);
?>

You will get the exact output as of previous one.

Note - You can change the SQL code to fetch different data. You can also specify other code, to get some specified data in specified format. It is all about the SQL code. But the thing is, rest of all the process will be same, to fetch and get the data from the database, and then display on the web.

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