Member Avatar for MadMaxy 
... mysql_select_db(".... database name....", $con);
$sql="UPDATE INTO Picks (Day, Month, Number, Competition, Sport, Country, .....

Working:

... mysql_select_db(".... database name....", $con);
$sql="INSERT INTO Picks (Day, Month, Number, Competition, Sport, Country, .....

----------------

2. I can't make work the output of the database data, anything I try I got this message when trying to view my page:

"Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ']' in /home/... my username..../public_html/test/view1.php on line 83" :@

Now this is a total nonsense, because like you can see below, line 83 is in an area which is totally identical with the same areas (lines) from the previous output zones (these are the output form of 5 sports-picks, everything is totally identical in the 5 areas, just the names of the "rows" are different as you can see...).

And if the code is validated in those 2 lines what in the world is with this line?
I tried to make some crazy changes, but nothing works, and anyways everything looks 1000% correct!
I have no data what could break the PHP code, any other character in the database which is not a letter are the " : ", "+ " or " - " characters.

<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","...my username...","my pasword");
if (!$con)
  {
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
  }

mysql_select_db("...database name...., $con);

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Picks");

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
  {

echo $row['Day'] . ", 
" . $row['Month'] . "
" . $row['Number']; echo "</h7></b>***</font></div><br>"; 

echo " <table align='center' border='1' bordercolor='#c0c0c0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='528' bgcolor='#ffffff'><tr><td>
<table align='center' border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='96%' bgcolor='#ffffff'>
<tr><td><div class='descr'><p align='center'><br><h8>"; 

echo $row['Competition'] . "  " . $row['Sport'] . " " . $row['Country'] . " " . $row['Time']; echo "</h8><br><h7>";
[B]echo $row['Team1'] . " " .  $row['vs'] . " " .  $row['Team2']; echo "<br>";[/B]
echo $row['Type']; echo "</h7>&nbsp;<b>"; echo $row['Pick'] . " " . $row['Spread'] . " " . $row['Odds'] . " " . $row['Units']; 
echo "</b></font><br><br>";

echo "<h8>"; 
echo $row['Competition1'] . "  " . $row['Sport1'] . " " . $row['Country1'] . " " . $row['Time1']; echo "</h8><br><h7>";
[B]echo $row['Team3'] . " " .  $row['vs1'] . " " .  $row['Team4']; echo "<br>";[/B]
echo $row['Type1']; echo "</h7>&nbsp;<b>"; echo $row['Pick1'] . " " . $row['Spread1'] . " " . $row['Odds1'] . " " . $row['Units1']; 
echo "</b></font><br><br>";

echo "<h8>"; 
echo $row['Competition2'] . "  " . $row['Sport2'] . " " . $row['Country2'] . " " . $row['Time2]; echo "</h8><br><h7>";
[B]echo $row['Team5'] . " " .  $row['vs2'] . " " .  $row['Team6']; echo "<br>";[/B]
echo $row['Type2']; echo "</h7>&nbsp;<b>"; echo $row['Pick2'] . " " . $row['Spread2'] . " " . $row['Odds2'] . " " . $row['Units2']; 
echo "</b></font><br><br>";

echo "<h8>"; 
echo $row['Competition3'] . "  " . $row['Sport3'] . " " . $row['Country3'] . " " . $row['Time3]; echo "</h8><br><h7>";
echo $row['Team7'] . " " .  $row['vs3'] . " " .  $row['Team8']; echo "<br>";
echo $row['Type3']; echo "</h7>&nbsp;<b>"; echo $row['Pick3'] . " " . $row['Spread3'] . " " . $row['Odds3'] . " " . $row['Units3']; 
echo "</b></font><br><br>";

echo "<h8>";
echo $row['Competition4'] . "  " . $row['Sport4'] . " " . $row['Country4'] . " " . $row['Time4']; echo "</h8><br><h7>";
echo $row['Team9'] . " " .  $row['vs4'] . " " .  $row['Team10']; echo "<br>";
echo $row['Type4']; echo "</h7>&nbsp;<b>"; echo $row['Pick4'] . " " . $row['Spread4'] . " " . $row['Odds4'] . " " . $row['Units4']; 
echo "</b></font><br><br>";

}
  mysql_close($con);
?>

Line 84 is in red bold, and the other 2 identical lines are in green bold.
I'm totally out of ideas how to solve these 2 problems.... :(

  • 3 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 131 Views
  • 12 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by srilakshmitr7

Dani AI

Generated

The PHP parse error you showed ("unexpected T_STRING, expecting ']'") is a classic syntax problem: the parser hit a string token where it was still expecting the closing bracket of an array index. As and noted, a missing quote inside an expression that looks up $row[...] is a common cause — but the same symptom can also be produced by an unclosed string or quote earlier in the file. Fixing the specific index is the immediate solution, then re-checking the file for any other unmatched quotes or brackets is important.

Quick, practical debugging steps:

  • Run a PHP syntax check from the command line to get the exact parse location:

    php -l view1.php

  • Turn on full error reporting while debugging:

    ini_set('display_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);

  • Narrow the problem by temporarily replacing larger echo blocks with a single var_dump($row); exit; to confirm the fetch works and rule out runtime/data issues.

Notes and improvements to avoid future trouble:

  • Long concatenated echo statements with embedded HTML are fragile. Close PHP and write plain HTML where possible, or use heredoc/templates. That makes quote mismatches easier to spot.
  • Escape output to prevent HTML injection: use htmlspecialchars() for values before echoing.
  • Move away from the old mysql_* API; use mysqli or PDO with prepared statements for safety and future PHP compatibility (see the mysqli docs).

Checklist to finish:

  1. Run php -l, fix reported syntax error and any earlier unclosed quotes. 2) Re-enable error reporting and test. 3) Replace brittle echo blocks with clearer templating and escape output. This will eliminate the parse error and make the code easier to maintain.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for Will Gresham

1. Lookup the update statement on the internet, the syntax for it is not correct, you can't simply replace INSERT with UPDATE, you need to completely re-write it, basics below:

mysql_query("UPDATE table_name SET row_name = value, rowname = value WHERE row_name = 'value'");

2. Are there any unescaped quotes within the values in the database as these may through such errors
For example, if you had 'value' in Team5 row in the database, it would make the code echo $row['Team5'] ..... into echo $row[''value'']...... which results in value being seen as code.
If you have any ' or " in the values in the db, you can escape them by changing them to \' or \"

Member Avatar for MadMaxy

1. Lookup the update statement on the internet, the syntax for it is not correct, you can't simply replace INSERT with UPDATE, you need to completely re-write it, basics below:

mysql_query("UPDATE table_name SET row_name = value, rowname = value WHERE row_name = 'value'");

2. Are there any unescaped quotes within the values in the database as these may through such errors
For example, if you had 'value' in Team5 row in the database, it would make the code echo $row['Team5'] ..... into echo $row[''value'']...... which results in value being seen as code.
If you have any ' or " in the values in the db, you can escape them by changing them to \' or \"

Thanks for the info on the use of "UPDATE". I'm new to PHP, I was thinking that we need only to change"INSERT".

As about question 2, that's seems more problematic... No, I don't have any quotes in the database.

Member Avatar for Will Gresham

look at the code below where you highlighted line 83, you have

echo $row['Competition2'] . " " . $row['Sport2'] . " " . $row['Country2'] . " " . $row['Time2]; echo "</h8><br><h7>";

you are missing a ' from $row['Time2] this is also missing in the ones following this as well.

Member Avatar for srilakshmitr7

I think you forgot to insert single qoute for variables time2 and time3 you try to execute after removing this errors.

commented: nice thing... +2
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