mysql_fetch_field

Get column information from a result and return as an object

Warning

This extension was deprecated in PHP 5.5.0, and it was removed in PHP 7.0.0. Instead, the MySQLi or PDO_MySQL extension should be used. See also MySQL: choosing an API guide. Alternatives to this function include:

mysqli_fetch_field
PDOStatement::getColumnMeta

Description

object mysql_fetch_field(resource $result, int $field_offset = 0)

Returns an object containing field information. This function can be used to obtain information about fields in the provided query result.

Parameters

result: The result resource that is being evaluated. This result comes from a call to mysql_query.
field_offset: The numerical field offset. If the field offset is not specified, the next field that was not yet retrieved by this function is retrieved. The field_offset starts at 0.

Return Values

Returns an object containing field information. The properties of the object are:

name - column name
table - name of the table the column belongs to, which is the alias name if one is defined
max_length - maximum length of the column
not_null - 1 if the column cannot be null
primary_key - 1 if the column is a primary key
unique_key - 1 if the column is a unique key
multiple_key - 1 if the column is a non-unique key
numeric - 1 if the column is numeric
blob - 1 if the column is a BLOB
type - the type of the column
unsigned - 1 if the column is unsigned
zerofill - 1 if the column is zero-filled

Examples

Example #1 mysql_fetch_field example

<?php
$conn = mysql_connect('localhost', 'mysql_user', 'mysql_password');
if (!$conn) {
    die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db('database');
$result = mysql_query('select * from table');
if (!$result) {
    die('Query failed: ' . mysql_error());
}
/* get column metadata */
$i = 0;
while ($i < mysql_num_fields($result)) {
    echo "Information for column $i:<br />\n";
    $meta = mysql_fetch_field($result, $i);
    if (!$meta) {
        echo "No information available<br />\n";
    }
    echo "<pre>
blob:         $meta->blob
max_length:   $meta->max_length
multiple_key: $meta->multiple_key
name:         $meta->name
not_null:     $meta->not_null
numeric:      $meta->numeric
primary_key:  $meta->primary_key
table:        $meta->table
type:         $meta->type
unique_key:   $meta->unique_key
unsigned:     $meta->unsigned
zerofill:     $meta->zerofill
</pre>";
    $i++;
}
mysql_free_result($result);
?>

Notes

Note: Field names returned by this function are case-sensitive.

Note:
If field or tablenames are aliased in the SQL query the aliased name will be returned. The original name can be retrieved for instance by using mysqli_result::fetch_field.