If Null forget this line 3

[kupe]

I use this to draw information from the mysql database to place on the webpage.

printf("<h4>%s\n</h4>", $myrow["Headline"]);
printf(" %s\n<br>", $myrow["NewsStory"]);
printf("<div class=\"names2\">- %s</div>", $myrow["Byline"]);
printf("Bulletin: %s", date("F d", strtotime($myrow["NewsDate"])));

Often there isn't a byline. How can I say in this line ...

printf("<div class=\"names2\">- %s</div>", $myrow["Byline"]);

if Byline = Null please ignore this one line, please Experts?

 

[cLFlaVA]

what's wrong with:

if ( strlen( $myrow['Byline'] ) > 0 ) {
    printf("<div class=\"names2\">-  %s</div>", $myrow["Byline"]);
}

*cLFlaVA
----------------------------
[tt]your mom goes to college[/tt]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.coryarthus.com/[/url]

 

[LTeeple]

printf("<h4>%s\n</h4>", $myrow["Headline"]);  
printf(" %s\n<br>", $myrow["NewsStory"]);       
if ($myrow["Byline"])
  printf("<div class=\"names2\">-  %s</div>", $myrow["Byline"]);      
printf("Bulletin: %s", date("F d", strtotime($myrow["NewsDate"])));

(Says if there's a value in $myrow["Byline"] print the line, otherwise, move on).


Cheers!
Laura

 

[kupe]

Hi cLFlaVA, Laura

Thanks very much, Gurus. I like both of them, Laura, cLFlaVA. Is one considered a better way than the other?

Appreciated very much. Cheers
paul

 

[shadedecho]

the first one is better than the second because you are not relying on PHP to do the auto type conversion from a non-empty string to a true value for the if-test.

However, I think easier than the first would be:

if (!empty($myrow["Byline"]))

this seems more semantically what you are looking for. BEWARE: empty() will return true (meaning the string is "empty") if the string = "0" (string value of 0). As long as Byline won't take on that value, you should be fine with that above.

And technically speaking, the ! negation is quicker than the greater-than comparison (">") of the integer returned by strlen() and the 0. Though, that is pretty nit-picky, its very unlikely you'd be able to see the performance difference unless of course this code was inside a loop that executed thousands of times or something.

 

[kupe]

That's very compact, Shadedecho, and will be really handy because I've found many places where this same problem applies. I am most indebted to you, and thanks enormously for explaining the pros and cons to a beginner who is starry-eyed by the php/mysql combination for websites.