PHP Newbie trying to understand how to make a php4 script equivalent in php5

Question

I am a newbie to php, so pardon me if this email sounds, well... dumb. I am trying to port some php4 code for my boss. Here is this one function that makes me stumped.

 function dbank($table,$sql,$dbankoverride="",$dbconfig="") {
    if(empty($dbconfig)) $dbconfig="0";

    $dbhostconfig[0]="XXXX";
    $dbuserconfig[0]="XXXX";
    $dbpasswdconfig[0]="XXXX";
    $dbankconfig[0]="db1";


    $dbhostconfig[1]="YYYY";
    $dbuserconfig[1]="YYYY";
    $dbpasswdconfig[1]="";
    $dbankconfig[1]="db2";

    $dbhost=$dbhostconfig[$dbconfig];
    $dbuser=$dbuserconfig[$dbconfig];
    $dbpasswd=$dbpasswdconfig[$dbconfig];
    $dbank=$dbankconfig[$dbconfig];

    if(!empty($dbankoverride)) $dbank=$dbankoverride;

    $db=@mysql_connect($dbhost,$dbuser,$dbpasswd);
    if(!$db) {
        $errormsg="<style type=\"text/css\">\n";
        $errormsg.="<!--\n";
        $errormsg.=".errormsg01 {  font-family: \"Times New Roman\", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none}\n";
        $errormsg.="-->\n";
        $errormsg.="</style>\n";
        $errormsg.="<span class=\"errormsg01\">Database Error</span>\n";
        die($errormsg);
    } else {
        # Select Database
        @mysql_select_db($dbank,$db);

        # Query 
        $result=@mysql_query($sql,$db);

        if (substr($sql,0,6)=="select" || substr($sql,0,8)=="describe") {

            for($i=0;$i<mysql_num_fields($result);$i++) {
                $field_name[$i] = mysql_field_name($result,$i);
            }


            $num=@mysql_num_rows($result);

            for($i=0;$in=@mysql_fetch_array($result);$i++) {
                $input[$i]=$in;
            }

            @mysql_close($db);

            $return=array($num,$field_name,$input);
            return $return;
        }
    }

    @mysql_close($db);

    $return=array($num,$field_name,$input);
    return $return;
}

As I understand, this function runs a sql query on a table and returns the variables $num, $field_name and $input in an array.

This function was written for a php4 server and it gives me errors "Undefined variable $num on line .. " for each of these variables.

My question is: How can I port this code so that it runs with PHP 5?

Hoping to hear back soon. Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

but if this statement return false

if (substr($sql,0,6)=="select" || substr($sql,0,8)=="describe")

you can't use variable $num, because it's not defined anywhere, out of this "if" statement?