PHP connection problems to MySQL database

[feck]

Hi people,I use a mysql_connect() function to connect to a mysql database. When I actually input the true host unsernam and password into the function something like:$connection=mysql_connect('someHost', 'made_upName', 'secretPassword'); //note these are not my real valuesEverything works fine.but when I create an external file and refer to it using the 'require' function, I get an error message telling me that i cannot connect, using this line in my code.Heres my external file with the variable values missing:<?php$host = '':$user = '';$passwd = '';$dbname = '';?>And Ive named it mysql.phpthe require 'mysql.php';and the new connect function:$connect=mysql_connect($host, $user, $passwd);But as stated I'm doing something wrong, somewhere because it will not connect.Can anyone help?

[murfitUK]

You have a : at the end of $host='' instead of ;If that doesn't fix it try troubleshooting one bit at a time.After the require function try printing out the variables egprint $host . "<br />";print $user . "<br />";print $passwd;exit;Just to make sure that the variables have been defined. Is mysql.php in the same folder as the main file? Maybe you have to navigate to a different folder eg require '../mysql.php'.Try the : / ; first then take it from there.

[reportingsjr]

It probably is the colon instead of a semicolon. I have had includes and requires act weird some times, like I couldn't include a url to the whole site, just files. maybe thats just my site!

[feck]

Thanks people,already solved it, for some reason may be its because i'm new at this, but when I used the connect variable inside one of my functions it would not work, and outside it would.Some times if somethings seems broken and I try and fix it, it remains broken.But if I break it some more, it fixes itIf that makes any sense.Thanks anyway

[murfitUK]

Its because variable defined within a function are usually only available within the function unless you return it to the main program properly. You need to read about global variables at php.net. This is a common cause of problems - you know the variable has a value but not the one you expected.To show how it works run this little script.

<?phpprint "We will give x the value of 5<br />";$x=5;print "Let's print x to prove it.  x = $x<br />";print "Now we'll hand over to the function...<br />";xtest();print "We have returned from the function.  Will x be 5 or 10?<br />";print "Let's print x to find out.  x = $x<br />";print "This shows that the value of x wasn't changed in the main<br />";print "program even though we gave it a different value inside the function.";function xtest()	  {	  print "Inside the function we will give x the value of 10<br />";	  $x=10;	  print "Let's print x to prove it.  x = $x<br />";	  print "Now we'll return to the main program...<br />";	  }?>

Which gives this output:

We will give x the value of 5Let's print x to prove it. x = 5Now we'll hand over to the function...Inside the function we will give x the value of 10Let's print x to prove it. x = 10Now we'll return to the main program...We have returned from the function. Will x be 5 or 10?Let's print x to find out. x = 5This shows that the value of x wasn't changed in the mainprogram even though we gave it a different value inside the function.