Auto Increment a Variable - php

Question

I am trying to get the step number to increase with each step that is pulled from the database. Here is my code:
//get the project steps
$ID=mysqli_real_escape_string($con,$_GET['id']);
$projSteps="SELECT project_steps.projectStepDesc,project_steps.projectID FROM project_steps WHERE project_steps.projectID=$ID";
$results1 = mysqli_query($con,$projSteps);
if (!$results1) {
printf("Error: %s\n", mysqli_error($con));
exit();
}
if (mysqli_num_rows($results1) > 0){
echo '<h2>Project Steps:</h2>';
while ($rows = mysqli_fetch_assoc($results1))
{
$a=1;
echo "Step ". $a++ ."<br />";
$psteps=$rows['projectStepDesc'];
echo '<div id="steps">';
echo "$psteps";
echo '</div>';
}}//end project steps
This just outputs Step 1 on each step. I am trying to get it to say Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 ect. How can i do this?

Answer 1

You're declaring the counter inside the while loop. This won't work as, $a = 1; is called each time you loop through and do something. Change:
while ($rows = mysqli_fetch_assoc($results1))
{
$a=1;
To:
$a=1;
while ($rows = mysqli_fetch_assoc($results1))
{

Answer 2

You're setting $a = 1 within your loop each time. Put it outside the loop.

Answer 3

You have put $a=1 outside the while ,other wise when the loops runs value of a gets changes to 1 every time.
$ID=mysqli_real_escape_string($con,$_GET['id']);
$projSteps="SELECT project_steps.projectStepDesc,project_steps.projectID FROM project_steps WHERE project_steps.projectID=$ID";
$results1 = mysqli_query($con,$projSteps);
if (!$results1) {
printf("Error: %s\n", mysqli_error($con));
exit();
}
if (mysqli_num_rows($results1) > 0){
echo '<h2>Project Steps:</h2>';
$a=1;
while ($rows = mysqli_fetch_assoc($results1))
{
echo "Step ". $a++ ."<br />";
$psteps=$rows['projectStepDesc'];
echo '<div id="steps">';
echo "$psteps";
echo '</div>';
}}//end project steps