[SOLVED] Update MySQL with PHP errors out with strings of numbers and letters

[woocha]

HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS !!

I am having a hard time understanding why this little script only works when the variable $item_numb is a string of numbers, not when it is letters and numbers.  Here is my code, I hope you guys can tell me what I am not seeing or somethins I have done wrong.  The information comes from a form that a user would fill out.  

 

  if ( $action == "update" )
  {
  $merchadmin = $_POST['merchadmin'];
  $item_numb = $_POST['item_numb'];
  $merchdir = $_POST['merchdir'];
      
  require  ("db_connect.php");
  	$query = "update catalog set ";
   $query .= " meta_item_title=\"$meta_item_title\", ";
   $query .= " meta_item_key=\"$meta_item_key\", ";
   $query .= " meta_item_dec=\"$meta_item_dec\", ";
	$query .= " file_modified = now()";
	$query .= " where merchant=$merchadmin and item_numb=$item_numb";
         $result = mysql_query( $query);
}
       echo mysql_error();

 

the SQL error I am getting is this:

Unknown column 'LDUTTS0011' in 'where clause'

LDUTTS0011 equals my test item number.

 

Thanks for the help

[hitman6003]

What data type is item_numb in the database?

 

If it is anything other than int, then you need to have single quotes around your variable:

 

$query .= " where merchant=$merchadmin and item_numb='$item_numb'";

 

If it is an int, then you shouldn't be letting the user submit alphanumeric values.

[woocha]

The DB field is set to text....Thank you, I did not know I needed to use the single quote.

Thanks for the response

[hitman6003]

Unless you have a VERY good reason for using text as the data type for an item identifier change it to a VARCHAR that is acceptably long.  Using TEXT will kill performance as the table gets larger and use increases.  Not to mention if you have an index on that field (and you probably should since you are using it in your where clause and it's a product identifier) the index for a TEXT field will be huge.

[woocha]

Awesome...Thanks a lot... I really appreciate the help...I will change that over today