PHP MySQLi mysqli_fetch_lengths()

mysqli_fetch_lengths()

The mysqli_fetch_lengths() function returns an array of numbers, where each number represents the length (number of characters) of each field in the last fetched row.

EXAMPLE

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

$connection = mysqli_connect($server, $username, $password, $database);
$result = mysqli_query($connection, "SELECT * FROM mysqli_table");

if ($result) {
    while ($row = mysqli_fetch_row($result)) {
        // Retrieve the field lengths for the currently read row
        // NOTE: The mysqli_fetch_lengths() function measures the actual length of the text in each 
        // column of the current row. Since the fruit is the second column (index 1), $lengths[1] will 
        //give us the exact number of characters for the current fruit.
        $lengths = mysqli_fetch_lengths($result);
        
        // Output the fruit name ($row[1]) and its length ($lengths[1])
        printf("Fruit %-10s has a length of: %d characters<br>", $row[1], $lengths[1]);
    }
    mysqli_free_result($result);
}

mysqli_close($connection);
?>

RESULT

The result will be displayed here...

Practical use: Instead of writing long code to count characters, this function instantly tells us the content length. Look at the example below, where we print the fruit name and its length:

It returns an array containing the lengths for each column separately.

Important: The function must be called immediately after fetching a row (e.g., using mysqli_fetch_row).

The result is displayed as a text list with the length information.