MySQL Newbie question... help me please!

[Superwormy]

Below is what I want to do, its PHP code:

SELECT * from $tablename where (name='$search_name' and email='$search_email')";

Problem being, if the user only wants to enter $search_name or only $search_email, it won't find anything because it'll be searching for, for instance, entries with the name: Keith AND email:


And it won't find anything because all entires with Keith also have email addresses. Is there a mysql thing I can put in there and say if $search_email == "" (ie nothign entered) then $search_email = (mysql character meaning everything I guess...) so that mysql with search for:

name == Keith AND email == (any email)


Did all the make sense? Anyone?

 

[kt]

why don't you do this?

if ($search_email == "") {
$sqlquery = "SELECT * from $tablename where name='$search_name'";
}
else {
$sqlquery = "SELECT * from $tablename where name='$search_name' and email='$search_email'";
}

mysql_query($sqlquery);