Get Mysql column names?

[rune_sm]

Hey everyone

 

I'm making a php-script that I can use to access any Mysql table i use. That's why I don't know the names of the columns. Sometimes it's a table containing new, sometimes url-links to pictures. The script outputs an xml file to flash, and I usually do something like this:

 

<?php

        // Database iinformation
$db_host="myhost.dk";
$db_user="myuser";
$db_name="mydbname";
$db_password="mypass";

	mysql_pconnect($db_host, $db_user, $db_password);
        mysql_select_db($db_name);

// Select data in database
$result = mysql_query("select * from news");

// Loop through it
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{ 
    	      print('<headline>'.$row["headline"].'</headline>');	
    	      print('<date>'.$row["date"].'</date>');	
    	      print('<text>'.$row["headline"].'</text>');	
} 
?>

 

But when I don't know how many columns I have in my table or what their names are, I cannot figure it out.

What I want to do in my loop is something like this:

// Loop through it
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{ 
    	      print('<'.$row["column1name"].'>');	
    	      print($row["column1data"]);	
              print('</'.$row["column1name"].'>');	

    	      print('<'.$row["column2name"].'>');	
    	      print($row["column2data"]);	
              print('</'.$row["column2name"].'>');

    	      print('<'.$row["column3name"].'>');	
    	      print($row["column3data"]);	
              print('</'.$row["column3name"].'>');

              .... and so on looping through all my data in the table

} 

 

How can I do this?

 

  - thanks - Rune

[Wildbug]

DESCRIBE <table-name> and parse the output.

[gluck]

use foreach .. you can use $key=>$value