bind_param() Fatal Error in PHP MySQLi

Question

So I know this error/question has been posted/asked a lot on SO, but none of the answers helped me and I kept getting this error:

Fatal error: Call to a member function bind_param() on a non-object

Here is the relevant code:

    $connect = new mysqli(connection info);



    $search = $_POST["search"];



    $sql = $connect->prepare("SELECT name, seller FROM products

                              WHERE name LIKE '%' + ? + '%';");

    $sql->bind_param("s", $search);





    ?>

I believe it has something to do with the like clause, but I am not sure. I am a inexperienced SQL and PHP coder.

Help is greatly appreciated!

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Answer 1

You have two options: add the wildcard inside the variable, or inside the query.

Inside the query, you use the CONCAT function

$sql = $connect->prepare("SELECT name, seller FROM products
                          WHERE name LIKE CONCAT('%', ? , '%')");
$sql->bind_param("s", $search);

Outside of the query, you can pass it in with the bind_param, which is good if you decide you want to do an exact search instead of a wildcard search

$sql = $connect->prepare("SELECT name, seller FROM products
                          WHERE name LIKE ?");
$sql->bind_param("s", '%'.$search.'%');

If the bind_param does not work, you can add the wildcards before the statement:

$search = '%'.$search.'%';
$sql->bind_param("s", $search);

bind_param() Fatal Error in PHP MySQLi

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