PDO Search Engine? - php

Question

I created a search feature for my website prior to me rewriting in PDO. I'm incredibly new to both PHP and PDO for use with a MySQL database, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to translate this code, to PDO. I would appreciate someone talking me through it slightly, to help me learn.
My current code is:
function doSearch() {
$output = '';
if(isset($_POST['search'])) {
$searchq = $_POST['search'];
$searchq = preg_replace ("#[^0-9a-z]#i","",$searchq);
$sql = "SELECT * FROM entries WHERE name LIKE '%$searchq%' or description LIKE '%$searchq%' or content LIKE '%$searchq%'";
$query = mysqli_query($connect, $sql);
$count = mysqli_num_rows($query);
if($count == 0) {
$output = '<tr><tr>No results found.</tr></td>';
} else {
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($query)) {
$eName = $row['name'];
$eDesc = $row['description'];
$eCont = $row['content'];
$id = $row['id'];
$elvl = $row['level'];
$ehp = $row['hp'];
$output .= '<tr><td>'.$eName.'</td><td>'.$eDesc.'</td><td>'.$elvl.'</td><td>'.$ehp.'</td></tr>';
}
}
return $output;
}
}
A PDO connection has been made, and it appears to be successful. This is in my functions.php file, and my connection.php file has been attached to functions.php.
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

It should be something like
$conn='';
try {
$conn = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=xxx', 'xxx', 'xxx');
}
catch (PDOException $e) {
exit('Database error.');
}
$sql = "SELECT * FROM entries WHERE name LIKE :searchq or description LIKE :searchq or content LIKE :searchq";
$stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);
$stmt->bindParam(":searchq",$searchq,PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->execute();
$count = $stmt->rowCount();
if($count == 0) {
$output = '<tr><tr>No results found.</tr></td>';
} else {
while($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
$eName = $row['name'];
$eDesc = $row['description'];
$eCont = $row['content'];
$id = $row['id'];
$elvl = $row['level'];
$ehp = $row['hp'];
$output .= '<tr><td>'.$eName.'</td><td>'.$eDesc.'</td><td>'.$elvl.'</td><td>'.$ehp.'</td></tr>';
}
}