php populate option box from database table - php

Question

I am writing code to register a new project via a html form. I want to be able to click a dropdown box which pulls the values from a table on the database.
At the moment a dropdown box displays but with no values.
PLEASE NOTE: I am a learning the basics so apologies if this is a simple question/answer scenario.
My code is below, any help is appreciated, I connect to the database via a php include script. The table is called 'customers' and the item I want to list is 'name';-
<?php
$result = mysql_query("SELECT customers FROM name");
echo "<select name='client'>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
echo "<option value = '".$row[name]."'>".$row[name]."</option>";
}
echo "</select>";
?>

Answer 1

"The table is called 'customers' and the item I want to list is 'name';" -
Do SELECT name FROM customers instead of SELECT customers FROM name
Using mysql_error() to mysql_query()
would have shown you the error that the table name does not exist.
Plus,
[name] are missing quotes inside them => ['name'] which are being treated as constants.
in
echo "<option value = '".$row[name]."'>".$row[name]."</option>";
as caught and kudos to devdesign
echo "<option value = '".$row['name']."'>".$row['name']."</option>";
However, you are using a deprecated MySQL library. If you are still not getting results, then this could mean that you need to use (and should use) mysqli_ or PDO instead.
Here are a few links on the subject:
mysqli with prepared statements
PDO with prepared statements.

Answer 2

Your code should be. Also note the single quotes within $row['name']. You missed that.
<?php
$result = mysql_query("SELECT name FROM customers");
echo "<select name='client'>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
echo "<option value = '".$row['name']."'>".$row['name']."</option>";
}
echo "</select>";
?>