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PHP

Abe Layee
Abe Layee
8,378 Points
Posted by Abe Layee
Abe Layee
8,378 Points

NEED HELP

I am trying to print out the user id in the url, but I keep getting this error "syntax error, unexpected '' (T_ENCAPSED_AND_WHITESPACE), expecting '-' or identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE) or number (T_NUM_STRING) ". Thank you

    $query = "SELECT  * FROM employees ";
    $query = mysqli_query($connect,$query);

    while($row= mysqli_fetch_array($query)) {
      echo '<div>';
      echo "<a href='profile.php?userId = <?php echo $row['id'];?>'>"; // error is here.. it should print out the user id in the url
      echo  $row['firstName'] . "  ". "  ".$row['lastName'];
      echo '</a>';
      echo '</div>';
   }

2 Answers

Spenser Hale
Spenser Hale
20,915 Points

Hello Abe Layee,

Your error is because you have a string syntax error. See PHP Strings Documentation

TLDR:

It appears "<?php echo $row['id'];?>" is copy from another project/ stack overflow without trying to understand what it does or how it works.

Issues:

  • Your query string cannot have spaces.
  • before closing the string you have <?php echo, which should not be in the string.
  • You cannot execute php within a string

Your code:

<?php echo "<a href='profile.php?userId = <?php echo $row['id'];?>'>";

Quick fix:

<?php echo "<a href='profile.php?userId={$row['id']}>";

Recommended Solution:

I would recommend using http_build_query since it will help you escape values and allows you to build complex query strings with ease. It is more readable and performant to echo once, so I combined statements and renamed variables to better describe their use.

<?php
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($query)) {
    $href = 'profile.php?'.http_build_query([
        'userId' => $row['id'],
    ]);
    $anchorText = $row['firstName'].' '.$row['lastName'];
    echo "<div><a href=\"{$href}\">{$anchorText}</a></div>";
}
Abe Layee
Abe Layee
8,378 Points
Abe Layee
Abe Layee
8,378 Points

I got it... thank