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phpmysqlcasemutual-friendship

MYSQL select mutual friends


My 'friends' table has the following columns: id, userID, userID2, state

userID and userID2 don't have a specific order of being put into the database.

I currently use this query to find a users friends:

$quer = mysql_query("
SELECT CASE WHEN userID=$id THEN userID2 ELSE userID END AS friendID 
FROM friends WHERE userID=$id OR userID2=$id");

I have tried this however it doesn't work:

SELECT 
CASE WHEN userID=$id OR userID=$session THEN userID2 
ELSE userID END AS friendID  
FROM friends WHERE (userID=$session OR userID2=$session) 
AND (userID=$id OR userID2=$id) AND friendID!=$session

also it shouldn't return the row if friendID=$session (which i have added to my second query)

EDIT: I want to return as friendID rows that $id and $session have in common. I'm not exactly sure why it isn't working.


Solution

  • After the explanations (and actually reading the "mutual" part):

    SELECT a.friendID
    FROM
          ( SELECT CASE WHEN userID = $id
                          THEN userID2 
                          ELSE userID 
                   END AS friendID 
            FROM friends 
            WHERE userID = $id OR userID2 = $id
          ) a
      JOIN
          ( SELECT CASE WHEN userID = $session
                          THEN userID2 
                          ELSE userID 
                   END AS friendID 
            FROM friends 
            WHERE userID = $session OR userID2 = $session
          ) b
        ON b.friendID = a.friendID