PHP MySQLi mysqli_fetch_field_direct() - Direct Access to Metadata

mysqli_fetch_field_direct()

The mysqli_fetch_field_direct() function is designed for surgically precise work. Unlike the standard fetch_field function, which goes through columns sequentially, this one allows us to immediately jump to a specific column using its index (number).

EXAMPLE

<?php
$server = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";
$database = "mysqli_database";

$connection = mysqli_connect($server, $username, $password, $database);
$query = "SELECT fruit, vegetable FROM mysqli_table";

if ($result = mysqli_query($connection, $query)) {
    // NOTE: With this function, we do not need a loop. We use an index (number) to precisely specify 
    // which column we want to inspect. Since computers count starting from 0, index 0 refers to the 
    // first column in our SELECT query, which in this case is the fruit column.
    $data = mysqli_fetch_field_direct($result, 0);

    printf("Column name: %s<br>", $data->name);
    printf("Table: %s<br>", $data->table);
    printf("Data type (ID): %s<br>", $data->type);
    printf("Default length: %s", $data->length);

    mysqli_free_result($result);
}

mysqli_close($connection);
?>

RESULT

The result will be displayed here...

When do we use this in practice? If you know in advance that you are only interested in the technical details of the second column in your query, you use index 1 (since we start counting from 0). This is faster and cleaner than running a loop over all columns. Test it at home like this:

The second parameter of the function specifies the column index (0 is the first column).

It returns an object with all properties: column name, table name, data type, and length.

Very useful if you want to check the length of a specific field before displaying it.