If database field is empty echo "nothing" if something there echo "something" - php

Question

looking for a solution to this bit of coding below.
<?php
$nextfive_events = mysql_query("SELECT date_format(date, '%d/%m/%Y') AS formatted_date, title, location, regs FROM events WHERE status = 'ACTIVE'");
if(mysql_num_rows($nextfive_events) == 0) { echo "<p>No events coming up!"; } else {
echo "<table width=\"600\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"2\" class=\"greywritinglight\" align=\"left\">
<tr align=\"center\">
<td>Date</td>
<td>Name</td>
<td>Location</td>
<td></td>
</tr>";
$x=1;
while($next_row = mysql_fetch_array($nextfive_events))
{
if($x%2): $rowbgcolor = "#FFFFFF"; else: $rowbgcolor = "#EEEEEE"; endif;
echo "<tr align=\"center\">";
echo "<td>" . $next_row['formatted_date'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $next_row['title'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $next_row['location'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>Regs</td>";
echo "</tr>";
$x++;
}
echo "</table>";
}
?>
I want the row echo "<td> <a href regs .....
To display the word Regs when there is something in 'regs' in the database. Say if there is nothing in that field I want it to be blank and not say Regs.
thanks

Answer 1

You could do Ternary operator:
echo "<td><a href='" . (empty($next_row['regs']) ? "#" : $next_row['regs']) . "'>Regs</a></td>";
Try not to do escape characters, they look confusing, do single quote for href attribute. Also, Did you want
<a href='#'>Regs</a>
to show if it was blank?
If Not, try this:
echo (!empty($next_row['regs']) ? "<td><a href='" . $next_row['regs'] . "'>Regs</a></td>" : "");

Answer 2

You could use a ternary:
echo ( ! empty($next_row['regs'])) ? '<td>Regs</td>' : '<td>&nspb;</td>';

Answer 3

First off, I'd like to show you a really handy trick with PHP that allows you to echo out into HTML without actually saying echo. Just create a break in your PHP code, and in between anything you put will be echoed as HTML.
As for the number of rows returned, you are doing it correctly. Make sure that you are querying properly, that you have an established connection, and that there are no logical errors in your SQL.
Sorry, didn't notice you wanted to check if the column was empty! Just use the function empty(). This function will return true when the data you give it is empty, so simply give it the column from the row of data you wish to check.
<?php
// Lets say this is your database connection variable
$connection = mysqli_connect(//Your info goes here);
// This is the query you want to run
$query = "SELECT something FROM somewhere WHERE something='$something_else'";
// This is where you are storing your results of the query
$data = mysqli_query($connection, $query);
// Here, you can ask for how many rows were returned
// In PHP, ZERO is evaluated to false. We can use a
// Short-hand boolean expression like this
if (mysqli_num_rows($data))
{
// Because zero evaluates to false, we know
// that if we get HERE that there ARE rows
// We can break out of PHP and into our HTML
// by simply ending our PHP tag! Just remember
// that you need to open it back up again though!
?>
<!--You can put your HTML here-->
<p>
We found some rows that you might
need to know about!
</p>
<?php
}
else
{
// But, if we get here, we know it evaluated as
// FALSE and therefore no rows returned
// Here's that HTML trick again
?>
<!--HTML can go here-->
<p>
No rows returned!
</p>
<?php
}
?>