display data from SQL database into php/ html table

PHP provides functions for connecting to a MySQL database.

$connection = mysql_connect('localhost', 'root', ''); //The Blank string is the password
mysql_select_db('hrmwaitrose');

$query = "SELECT * FROM employee"; //You don't need a ; like you do in SQL
$result = mysql_query($query);

echo "<table>"; // start a table tag in the HTML

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){   //Creates a loop to loop through results
echo "<tr><td>" . htmlspecialchars($row['name']) . "</td><td>" . htmlspecialchars($row['age']) . "</td></tr>";  //$row['index'] the index here is a field name
}

echo "</table>"; //Close the table in HTML

mysql_close(); //Make sure to close out the database connection

In the while loop (which runs every time we encounter a result row), we echo which creates a new table row. I also add a to contain the fields.

This is a very basic template. You see the other answers using mysqli_connect instead of mysql_connect. mysqli stands for mysql improved. It offers a better range of features. You notice it is also a little bit more complex. It depends on what you need.

Please note that "mysql_fetch_array" is now deprecated since PHP 5.5.0, and it was removed in PHP 7.0.0. So please take a look in "mysqli_fetch_array()" instead.

refer to http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_mysql_select.asp . If you are a beginner and want to learn, w3schools is a good place.

<?php
    $con=mysqli_connect("localhost","root","YOUR_PHPMYADMIN_PASSWORD","hrmwaitrose");
    // Check connection
    if (mysqli_connect_errno())
      {
      echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
      }

    $result = mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM employee");

    while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
      {
      echo $row['FirstName'] . " " . $row['LastName']; //these are the fields that you have stored in your database table employee
      echo "<br />";
      }

    mysqli_close($con);
    ?>

You can similarly echo it inside your table

<?php
 echo "<table>";
 while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
          {
          echo "<tr><td>" . $row['FirstName'] . "</td><td> " . $row['LastName'] . "</td></tr>"; //these are the fields that you have stored in your database table employee
          }
 echo "</table>";
 mysqli_close($con);
?>

Here's a simple function I wrote to display tabular data without having to input each column name: (Also, be aware: Nested looping)

function display_data($data) {
    $output = '<table>';
    foreach($data as $key => $var) {
        $output .= '<tr>';
        foreach($var as $k => $v) {
            if ($key === 0) {
                $output .= '<td><strong>' . $k . '</strong></td>';
            } else {
                $output .= '<td>' . $v . '</td>';
            }
        }
        $output .= '</tr>';
    }
    $output .= '</table>';
    echo $output;
}

---

UPDATED FUNCTION BELOW

Hi Jack,

your function design is fine, but this function always misses the first dataset in the array. I tested that.

Your function is so fine, that many people will use it, but they will always miss the first dataset. That is why I wrote this amendment.

The missing dataset results from the condition if key === 0. If key = 0 only the columnheaders are written, but not the data which contains $key 0 too. So there is always missing the first dataset of the array.

You can avoid that by moving the if condition above the second foreach loop like this:

function display_data($data) {
    $output = "<table>";
    foreach($data as $key => $var) {
        //$output .= '<tr>';
        if($key===0) {
            $output .= '<tr>';
            foreach($var as $col => $val) {
                $output .= "<td>" . $col . '</td>';
            }
            $output .= '</tr>';
            foreach($var as $col => $val) {
                $output .= '<td>' . $val . '</td>';
            }
            $output .= '</tr>';
        }
        else {
            $output .= '<tr>';
            foreach($var as $col => $val) {
                $output .= '<td>' . $val . '</td>';
            }
            $output .= '</tr>';
        }
    }
    $output .= '</table>';
    echo $output;
}

Best regards and thanks - Axel Arnold Bangert - Herzogenrath 2016

and another update that removes redundant code blocks that hurt maintainability of the code.

function display_data($data) {
$output = '<table>';
foreach($data as $key => $var) {
    $output .= '<tr>';
    foreach($var as $k => $v) {
        if ($key === 0) {
            $output .= '<td><strong>' . $k . '</strong></td>';
        } else {
            $output .= '<td>' . $v . '</td>';
        }
    }
    $output .= '</tr>';
}
$output .= '</table>';
echo $output;

}