PHP MYSQL function works, but breaks when extra parameters are added - php

Question

The code below returns nothing, but if I remove this line:
'desc' => $row['DESC'],
from the function it works fine.
DESC Is a valid column in the database and when I run the full query in phpmyadmin, it returns the desired result.
I am not sure why this line
'desc' => $row['DESC'],
breaks the return of the result.
=======
After more investigating I can see the JSON output has the same issue.
Altering the column name (since DESC is a keyword) and reflecting the changes in the query has no effect.
========
function get_all_subjects($db1) {
$stmt = $db1->query("SELECT DISTINCT NAME, DESC, CLASSCODE FROM tbl_subjects WHERE VISIBLE = 1 ORDER BY NAME ASC");
$stmt->execute();
$count = $stmt->rowCount();
$column = array();
if ($count >0)
{
while($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC))
{
$column[] = array(
'name' => $row['NAME'],
'desc' => $row['DESC'],
'cc' => $row['CLASSCODE']
);
}
return json_encode(array('subjects' =>$column));
}
else
{
return $count;
}
}

Answer 1

DESC is a reserved word in SQL. If you want to use it as a column, you should protect it with forward quotes:
function get_all_subjects($db1) {
$stmt = $db1->query("SELECT DISTINCT NAME, `DESC` AS D, CLASSCODE FROM tbl_subjects WHERE VISIBLE = 1 ORDER BY NAME ASC");
$stmt->execute();
$count = $stmt->rowCount();
$column = array();
if ($count >0)
{
while($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC))
{
$column[] = array(
'name' => $row['NAME'],
'desc' => $row['D'], // Using the alias, just in case
'cc' => $row['CLASSCODE']
);
}
return json_encode(array('subjects' =>$column));
}
else
{
return $count;
}
}

Answer 2

DESC is a reserved Keyword do something like
SELECT DISTINCT NAME, DESC as yourVar, CLASSCODE FROM tbl_subjects WHERE VISIBLE = 1 ORDER BY NAME ASC
and then like that
'desc' => $row['yourVar'],

Answer 3

$stmt = $db1->query("SELECT DISTINCT `NAME`, `DESC`, `CLASSCODE` FROM `tbl_subjects` WHERE `VISIBLE` = 1 ORDER BY `NAME` ASC");
there was syntax error because desc is reserved keyword, you have to use quotes, the best habbit is quote each column and each table name

Answer 4

Thank you all for your answers - I found the problem and what broke the script was that my strings in my JSON values had several - in them.
It took me a while to find it :-)