$_GET code in link not working

[kelseyirene]

I'm setting up a book database and have a page for photos of authors, where visitors can click on the photo and go through to a page with more information. The table I'm drawing from is TitleInfo with num, title, author_first, author_last, isbn. I set up a similar code for book covers and that works fine, but I adapted it and it no longer works. When the link clicks through, it says "Unknown column '(author's last name)' on line 13." I know that the column exists. How do I make it work? Help!

 

Here's the code for the link

 

<?

include("connect.php");

$sql=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM AuthorInfo ORDER BY last") or die ('Error: '.mysql_error());

while($r=mysql_fetch_array($sql))
{
    $lname=$r['last'];
        
    echo "<a href='authorss.php?type=$lname'>";
    echo "<img src='images/" . $lname . ".jpg' hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0 height=200 align='left'>";
    echo "</a>";
}

?>

 

Here's the code for authorss.php (I know right now it's really simplistic, but I need the page to get the information before I start designing, etc):

 

<?

include("connect.php");

$v=$_GET['type'];

$query=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM AuthorInfo WHERE last=$v") or trigger_error (mysql_error());

while($r=mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
    $v1=$r["last"];
    echo $v1;
    echo "<br>";
}

?>

 

Help! Thanks in advance

[mikesta707]

im assuming that the `last` column is a varchar type

("SELECT * FROM AuthorInfo WHERE last='$v'");

 

try that, you have to surround strings in mysql with quotes, or else it thinks its a number/variable/keyword/something its not

[kelseyirene]

That did it!! Rookie mistake. I thought I'd tried the quotes but obviously I didn't. Thank you thank you!