Mysqli Wild Card Insert with data range - php

Question

I have a very large data (not a file) to insert into a students' database. It will be very difficult to type every inch of it, loop and insert. However, it follows a specific pattern and it's in a range of specific numbers.
Below is an example of what I am talking about.
Student's Reference Numbers
Sample range: APS00001 - APS02000
The first three characters are constant. but the rest are not. The data has to be inserted based on the given range.
<?php mysqli_query($conn,"INSERT INTO table (reference) VALUES('each of the data in the sample range')"); ?>
So I could generate the sequence using this code
<?php
$array_items = array();
for ($i=0; $i <= 2000; $i++) {
$array_items[] .= $i;
}
print_r($array_items); // prints the sequence
?>

Answer 1

Here is an SQL solution to your INSERT problem.
Run this to loop from 1 to 2000. It generates APS0001, padding the number as it goes.
DELIMITER $$
DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS insert_data $$
CREATE PROCEDURE insert_data ()
BEGIN
DECLARE count INT DEFAULT 1;
WHILE count <= 2000 DO
INSERT INTO `tbl1`(`col3`) VALUES(CONCAT("APS",LPAD(count, 4, '0')));
SET count = count + 1;
END WHILE;
END $$
DELIMITER ;
CALL insert_data();
Since the original post was updated, here is a PHP solution:
<?php
// add $conn info
for ($i = 1; $i <= 2000; $i++) {
$insdata = "APS" . str_pad($i, 5, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT);
mysqli_query($conn,"INSERT INTO table (reference) VALUES('$insdata')");
}
?>

Answer 2

You should use prepared statement with parameter binding. To pad the string to a given length use str_pad(). You can prepend the APS string either in PHP or in SQL using CONCAT().
$sql = "INSERT INTO table (reference) VALUES(CONCAT('APS', ?))";
$stmt = $db->prepare($sql);
$stmt->bind_param('s', $value_to_be_inserted);
$array_items = array();
for ($i = 1; $i < 20; $i++) {
$array_items[] .= +$i;
$value_to_be_inserted = str_pad($i, 5, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);
$stmt->execute();
}
Don't prepare in the loop. Only execute inside the loop.