Accessing MySQL Response Values in PHP

In PHP, when querying a MySQL database, the result is stored in a resource handle. This can lead to confusion when attempting to print or use the response data.

Problem:

Consider the following code:

$datos1 = mysql_query("SELECT TIMEDIFF(NOW(), '" . $row['fecha'] . "');");
echo($datos1);

This code returns "Resource id #6" instead of the expected value.

Solution:

To access the actual response data, you need to use a fetch function. Here's an updated example:

$result = mysql_query(sprintf("SELECT TIMEDIFF(NOW(), '%s') as time_delta", $row['fecha']));
if ($result) {
    $data = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);
    echo $data['time_delta'];
}

In this code:

• mysql_fetch_assoc() retrieves the first row from the result set and converts it into an associative array.
• echo $data['time_delta'] prints the value of the "time_delta" column from the first row.

Caution:

The mysql functions are deprecated and it is recommended to use the PDO or mysqli extensions instead for database handling.