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I am trying to insert a string of given tags into a MySQL table, but it's not quite working out.

  $tags = array explode (", ", $_POST["tags"]);
  $tag_array = implode(", ", $tags);

My table has the columns tag_id(auto increment) and tag_name(where each item of array needs to go into)

How do I cycle through my array and make MySQL insert a blank value into tag_id (as it's auto incremented) and each of my array values into the tag_name column?

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3  
once you implode, you don't have an array anymore. you've got a STRING. and I hope you're using proper sql injection attack defense mechanisms, and not just trying to stuff that string into your DB directly... –  Marc B Jan 18 at 16:36
 
1. I assume MySQL is using tag_id as a primary key, so dont insert a blank value, 2. $mysqli->prepare("INSERT INTO tags VALUES (?)") combined with foreach –  Hiroto Jan 18 at 16:37
 
I also suggest you program some logic to account for if a user enters data like: apple, orange,banana, [three spaces] tomato, [6 spaces] etc.. You can do this easily by trim($tags) and/ or just separating by comma (without the space) like explode(',', $_POST['tags']);. –  user1477388 Jan 18 at 16:38
 
What is the purpose of your code in the example? $tag_array will be equal to $_POST["tags"] afterwards. –  lethal-guitar Jan 18 at 16:38
 
Yeah, sorry. The code is all in very basic stages. It's used to bind tags to photos. I'm not sanitizing the string yet. This is still all on a local server trying to get it all working. I know I still have stuff like that to do. –  Rudy van Sloten Jan 18 at 16:42

2 Answers

up vote 0 down vote accepted

You don't mention how you're accessing MySQL from within PHP, but using PDO you could do something like this:

$dbh = new PDO("mysql:dbname=$dbname", $username, $password);
$dbh->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, FALSE);

$insert = $dbh->prepare('INSERT INTO my_table (tag_name) VALUES (:tag)');
$insert->bindParam(':tag', $tag, PDO::PARAM_STR);

foreach ($tags as $tag) $insert->execute();
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I'm simply using mysql_query in either a PHP while or foreach –  Rudy van Sloten Jan 18 at 16:43
1  
@RudyvanSloten: mysql_query() (along with the rest of the ancient mysql PHP extension) is deprecated as of PHP 5.5.0, and will be removed in the future. Instead, the MySQLi or PDO_MySQL extension should be used. See also MySQL: choosing an API guide and related FAQ for more information. –  eggyal Jan 18 at 16:46
 
Perfect. I will look into continuing with PDO. I've not been using PHP/MySQL for several years, so I'm rather out of touch with new developments. Your code works fine (: –  Rudy van Sloten Jan 18 at 16:57
up vote 0 down vote

Why don't you just do a foreach loop and insert the tags?

foreach($tags as $tag_name)
{
    mysql_query("INSERT INTO tags (tag_name) VALUES ($tag_name)");
}

Note that you should really be using PDO as mysql_query is outdated. This is just an example and you should do a little research on how to sanitize your data before inserting it. A simple Google search will get you going.

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Thank you, I'm currently looking into PDO. I already know how to sanitize my data, but haven't written the code for this yet as I wanted to test basic functionality. –  Rudy van Sloten Jan 18 at 16:58

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