PHP MySQLi mysqli_field_seek() - Moving the Field Pointer

mysqli_field_seek()

The mysqli_field_seek() function sets the field pointer to the specified offset. The next call to the mysqli_fetch_field() function will return information about the column at this position.

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");

// The pointer moves to the third column (index 2 - the vegetable column)
// NOTE: Since computers count from 0, index 2 means the THIRD column 
// in our table. With this function, we force the pointer to move to it.
mysqli_field_seek($result, 2);

// Retrieving information about the column at index 2.
$info = mysqli_fetch_field($result);

// Checking the current position of the pointer (the function returns the index of the next column to read)
$position = mysqli_field_tell($result);

// Outputs the column index where the pointer is CURRENTLY located after reading (it moves forward).
echo "Field number: " . $position . "<br>";

// Outputs the name of the column that we just read with the fetch_field function.
echo "Column name: " . $info->name . "<br>";

// Outputs the name of the SQL table from which this column originates.
echo "Table name: " . $info->table . "<br>";

// Outputs the maximum defined length (width) of this column in the database structure.
echo "Maximum length: " . $info->length . "<br>";

mysqli_free_result($result);
mysqli_close($connection);
?>

RESULT

The result will be displayed here...

The offset starts at 0 (the first column).

Useful when we want data about a specific column without iterating through all the others.

It is often used in combination with mysqli_field_tell().