mysql_fetch_array()/mysql_fetch_assoc()/mysql_fetch_row()/mysql_num_rows etc... expects parameter 1 to be resource

Question

I am trying to select data from a MySQL table, but I get one of the following error messages:

mysql_fetch_array() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given

This is my code:

$username = $_POST['username'];
$password = $_POST['password'];

$result = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM Users WHERE UserName LIKE $username');

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
    echo $row['FirstName'];
}

Answer 1

A query may fail for various reasons in which case both the mysql_* and the mysqli extension will return false from their respective query functions/methods. You need to test for that error condition and handle it accordingly.

mysql_* extension:

NOTE The mysql_ functions are deprecated and have been removed in php version 7.

Check $result before passing it to mysql_fetch_array. You'll find that it's false because the query failed. See the mysql_query documentation for possible return values and suggestions for how to deal with them.

$username = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['username']);
$password = $_POST['password'];
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Users WHERE UserName LIKE '$username'");

if($result === FALSE) { 
    die(mysql_error()); // TODO: better error handling
}

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
    echo $row['FirstName'];
}

mysqli extension
procedural style:

$username = mysqli_real_escape_string($mysqli, $_POST['username']);
$result = mysqli_query($mysqli, "SELECT * FROM Users WHERE UserName LIKE '$username'");

// mysqli_query returns false if something went wrong with the query
if($result === FALSE) { 
    yourErrorHandler(mysqli_error($mysqli));
}
else {
    // as of php 5.4 mysqli_result implements Traversable, so you can use it with foreach
    foreach( $result as $row ) {
        ...

oo-style:

$username = $mysqli->escape_string($_POST['username']);
$result = $mysqli->query("SELECT * FROM Users WHERE UserName LIKE '$username'");

if($result === FALSE) { 
    yourErrorHandler($mysqli->error); // or $mysqli->error_list
}
else {
    // as of php 5.4 mysqli_result implements Traversable, so you can use it with foreach
    foreach( $result as $row ) {
      ...

using a prepared statement:

$stmt = $mysqli->prepare('SELECT * FROM Users WHERE UserName LIKE ?');
if ( !$stmt ) {
    yourErrorHandler($mysqli->error); // or $mysqli->error_list
}
else if ( !$stmt->bind_param('s', $_POST['username']) ) {
    yourErrorHandler($stmt->error); // or $stmt->error_list
}
else if ( !$stmt->execute() ) {
    yourErrorHandler($stmt->error); // or $stmt->error_list
}
else {
    $result = $stmt->get_result();
    // as of php 5.4 mysqli_result implements Traversable, so you can use it with foreach
    foreach( $result as $row ) {
      ...

---

These examples only illustrate what should be done (error handling), not how to do it. Production code shouldn't use or die when outputting HTML, else it will (at the very least) generate invalid HTML. Also, database error messages shouldn't be displayed to non-admin users, as it discloses too much information.