getting 'array' or 'Resource id #5' - php

Question

So, I want to get a column to a variable.
I tried 2 methodes
mysql_query
and
mysql_fetch_array
At mysql_query I get Resource id #5.
And
At mysql_fetch_array I get array.Does some one knows how to fix this?
$res=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE userId=".$_SESSION['user']);
$userRow=mysql_fetch_array($res);

Answer 1

Suppose you have column with name as 'firstname'. Then you can go with this
$res=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE userId=".$_SESSION['user']);
$userRow=mysql_fetch_array($res);
$firstname = $userRow[0]['firstname'];
echo $firstname;
If you get multiple rows in result, you can get all rows by loop.

Answer 2

My understanding is that you want to call the column name from a table where the value of that column is equal to a variable? If so...
The easiest way I can think of to resolve this would be to so a search through all the tables for the value you look for based on columns and return the value. This function should help accomplish this task:
function columnToVariable($conn, $table, $variable){//SET PARAMETERS (CONNECTION STRING, TABLE NAME, VARIABLE SEARCH)
$sql = "SHOW COLUMNS FROM ".mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $table).";"; // SQL STATEMENT
$result = $conn->query($sql); // RESULTS OF ALL ROWS
$field = array(); // ARRAY WITH COLUMNS
if($result->num_rows > 0){ // CHECK IF RESULTS FOUND
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()){ // SET RESULTS TO ARRAY
array_push($field, $row['Field']); // APPEND ARRAY WITH FIELD NAME
}
}
foreach($field as $return){ // ITERATE THROUGH FIELD NAMES
$sql = "SELECT * FROM ".mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $table)." WHERE ".mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $return)." = '".mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $variable)."';"; // SQL STRING
$result = $conn->query($sql); // QUERY RESULTS
if($result->num_rows > 0){ // IF FOUND, RETURN VALUE
return $return; // RETURN VALUE
}
}
}