Check if value exists in MySQL table - php

Question

I am very new to MySQl and I'm trying to check if an inputed email matches with any from my table. If it matches, I need to put the email and the other columns of the same row in another table.
What I get now is a blank row added to table2.
<?php
include "config.php";
$email = $_POST['email'];
$match = mysqli_query("SELECT email FROM table1 WHERE email = $email");
if($conn->query($match)){
//here i have to find the name, school, and grad_year that matches
// with the email from table 1 which is in the same row. I tried a couple of
//things but it didn't work. So i don't know what to put in there.
$insert = "INSERT INTO table2 VALUES(name,'$email',school,grad year )";
$conn->query($insert);
}
?>
Any help would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

Don't ever use the mysql* functions. They are deprecated and insecure. Use mysqli* or PDO instead. See below for sample code (I have NOT run it and there may be errors - the idea is to get you on the right road...)
<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "my_user", "my_password", "world");
/* check connection */
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
printf("Connect failed: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error());
exit();
}
$email = $_POST['email'];
/* create a prepared statement */
if ($stmt = $mysqli->prepare("SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE email=?")) {
/* bind parameters for markers */
$stmt->bind_param("s", $email);
/* execute query */
$stmt->execute();
/* bind result variables */
# NOTE: You may prefer $stmt->get_results() and $result->fetch_assoc()
# to this $stmt->bind_result() and $stmt->fetch().
$stmt->bind_result($name, $junk, $school, $grad_year);
/* fetch value */
if ($stmt->fetch()) {
$stmt2 = $mysqli->prepare("INSERT INTO table2 VALUES (?,?,?,?)");
$stmt2->bind_param("ssss", $name, $email, $school, $grad_year);
$stmt2->execute();
$stmt2->close();
}
/* close statement */
$stmt->close();
}
/* close connection */
$mysqli->close();
?>
Or, if you don't care to know details along the way, this is a lot faster and simpler:
// yada,yada - get a conx
$email = $_POST['email'];
/* create a prepared statement */
if ($stmt = $mysqli->prepare("INSERT INTO table2 SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE email=?")) {
/* bind parameters for markers */
$stmt->bind_param("s", $email);
/* execute query */
$stmt->execute();
/* the total number of affected rows can be determined by using the mysqli_stmt_affected_rows() function */
}
(SOURCE: Example copied from http://php.net/manual/en/mysqli.prepare.php and modified)