i want to span columns in mysql result displayed on my page - php

Question

hello everyone i have made a mysql table which consist of two columns and 35 rows,
now problem is i want to span or merge some of the columns in it but i don't know how to do it
here is my code
$result = mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM Spec");
echo "<table border='1' id='spec'>
<tr>
<th class='th'>Engine</th>
<th class='th'>Spec</th>
</tr>";
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td class='td1'>" . $row['Engine'] . "</td>";
echo "<td class='td'>" . $row['Spec'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
if($row['Engine'] = $row['Suspension'])
{
echo "<td colspan='2'>" . $row['Suspension'] . "</td>";
}
echo "</table>";
mysqli_close($con);

Answer 1

There is problem with and in while loop, please update it accordingly.
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td class='td1'>" . $row['Engine'] . "</td>";
echo "<td class='td'>" . $row['Spec'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
if($row['Engine'] = $row['Suspension'])
{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td colspan='2'>" . $row['Suspension'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";

Answer 2

Several problems with your logic there and a couple of code issues. Since you haven't explained exactly what format your data is in and what layout you want to achieve I'll have a bash at both versions you can test them and see which one fits the layout you're after.
This version fixes the IF statement to correctly use comparitive operator of == not assignment of =
It also creates a new table row if the engine and suspension column values match so you'd end up with something looking like this
| ENGINE | SPEC |
| SUSPENSION |
$result = mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM Spec");
echo "<table border='1' id='spec'>
<tr>
<th class='th'>Engine</th>
<th class='th'>Spec</th>
</tr>";
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td class='td1'>" . $row['Engine'] . "</td>";
echo "<td class='td'>" . $row['Spec'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
if($row['Engine'] == $row['Suspension']) {
echo "<tr><td colspan='2'>" . $row['Suspension'] . "</td></tr>";
}
}
echo "</table>";
mysqli_close($con);
Of course it relies that the contents of your Suspension column are exactly the same as the contents of your Engine column which I'll place a bet on they don't but you'll have to address you're logic about that
The other way of doing it is like this. This version will show | ENGINE | SPEC | or if your engine column matches your Suspension column it'll just show the | SUSPENSION | column instead.
$result = mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM Spec");
echo "<table border='1' id='spec'>
<tr>
<th class='th'>Engine</th>
<th class='th'>Spec</th>
</tr>";
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
if($row['Engine'] == $row['Suspension']) {
echo "<tr><td colspan='2'>" . $row['Suspension'] . "</td></tr>";
} else {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td class='td1'>" . $row['Engine'] . "</td>";
echo "<td class='td'>" . $row['Spec'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
}
echo "</table>";
mysqli_close($con);
Both will work though I suspect neither will provide you what you're looking for personally I don't think you need the IF() statement at all