Using arrays with sql queries help

I am wondering if there is any way to use arrays in sql queries effectively.

So for example (this is not real code, just an idea):

$array =
0 => PHP,
2 => SQL;

SELECT ($array) FROM Table1;

which would output:

SELECT PHP, SQL FROM Table1;

I would love to know of any good practices for doing this sort of thing as i have been trying my best to follow the standards for PHP and SQL coding.

 

Are you referring to stored procedures in a database? That's easily done and I think usually executed with eval().

Or are you referring to arrays stored in a databse? To do this serialisation is needed and done with the serialize() function, however unless in specific circumstances this defeats the object of a relational database.

 

The only way is to convert them to string... at least for table names or field names on select.

$query='SELECT ',implode(',',$array),' FROM Table1';

If you are talking about value sets for things like WHERE however, PDO (as opposed to the outdated mysql_ functions people REALLY need to stop using) has something called prepared queries, and PDO (unlike it's cousin mysqli_) lets you pass an array to it's execute method.

$db->prepare('
  SELECT * FROM table1
  LIMIT :start, :max
');
$db->execute(array(
  ':start' => $start,
  ':end' => $end
));

Code (markup):

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately from a security standpoing) does not allow you to pass values to SELECT or FROM...

Because PDO allows for multiple SQL engines, I've taken to storing my queries in a array of strings (private scope to a inherited class of PDO object) -- loading a different array for each engine... then using prep/exec to pass the values.

 

Thank you a lot for your answers BRUm and deathshadow this is what i was looking for.

My question has been answered thank you but i will also look into PDOs. Thanks a lot for this information.

Much love.

 

Interesting stuff Deathshadow. Tell me, is PDO for PHP what LINQ or ADO.NET are for C#?

I read that try/catch should be used with PDO but I've never used these in PHP, only C#. I think it's good practice to program in a way that doesn't require them, unless it's absolutely necessary.