Using mysql_fetch_field you can produce a more robust version of mysql_fetch_assoc.
When querying 2 tables with the same field names, generally you would need to use mysql_fetch_row to get an integer key'ed array rather than an associated key'ed array. This is because fields of the same name in the second table will over-write the data returned from the first table.
However this simple function will insert the table name prior to the field name for the key and prevent cross-overs.
ie SELECT *, 'test' AS test 4 FROM table AS T_1, table AS T_2 WHERE T_1.a=T_2.b
could produce:
mysql_fetch_assoc() returns
array(
'index'=>2,
'a'=>'pear',
'b'=>'apple',
'test'=>'test',
4=>4
)
mysql_fetch_table_assoc() returns
array(
'T_1.index' =>1,
'T_1.a'=>'apple',
'T_1.b'=>'banana',
'T_2.index'=>2,
'T_2.a'=>'pear',
'T_2.b'=>'apple',
'test'=>'test',
4=>4
)
<?php
function mysql_fetch_table_assoc($resource)
{
$data=mysql_fetch_row($resource);
if(!$data) return $data; $fields=array();
$index=0;
$num_fields=mysql_num_fields($resource);
while($index<$num_fields)
{
$meta=mysql_fetch_field($resource, $index);
if(!$meta)
{
$fields[$index]=$index;
}
else
{
$fields[$index]='';
if(!empty($meta->table)) $fields[$index]=$meta->table.'.';
if(!empty($meta->name)) $fields[$index].=$meta->name; else $fields[$index].=$index;
}
$index++;
}
$assoc_data=array_combine($fields, $data);
return $assoc_data;
}
?>
