PHP - Upload data to database using a loop

Question

I have an array which contains $player_ids. The array was obtained in a form which the user used to select his team. I then query the database with the $player_ids array. As such:

 if ( isset($_POST['submit']) ) {
    $player_ids = array_map('intval', $_REQUEST['players']);

    var_dump($player_ids);

    $query = 'SELECT `name` 
        FROM `player_info` 
        WHERE `player_id` IN (' . implode(',', $player_ids) . ')';

    $return_names = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());

    while ( $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($return_names) ) {
        $selected[] = $row['name'];
    }

    var_dump($selected);

The above code is working and when I open it in my browser I get this output

Now I want to extract the values from array $selected (which contains the names of players selected) and upload it to a database. I try to do this as follows:

foreach ($selected as $player){
    $sql = mysql_query('INSERT INTO `team`(`player_name`) VALUES ("$player")') 
    or die(mysql_error());
    print ($player); 
    echo'<br>';         
`   }

Im suspecting the above code is where the problem comes in. when the above code is executed the database contains only the array name itself and not the actual values of the array. As the following picture shows:

If anyone could point me in the right direction, as to why the array name and not its values gets saved in the database it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You must put double quotes around your string instead of single quotes. In single quoted strings variables like $player are not replaced by their value interpreted there as text.

Answer 2

use this:

'INSERT INTO `team`(`player_name`) VALUES ("' . $player . '")'

instead of this:

'INSERT INTO `team`(`player_name`) VALUES ("$player")'

Answer 3

Just replace following code with your ones code and it will work efficiently.

foreach ($selected as $player){
    $sql = mysql_query("INSERT INTO `team`(`player_name`) VALUES ('$player')") 
    or die(mysql_error());
    echo "$player<br />";          
   }