Create Function For Array of Data from MySql

I am writing a program where I repeat this code on numerous pages:

PHP Code:

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$shipping_query=("SELECT * FROM `shipping` WHERE `mra_number`='$mra_number'");
$shipping_result = mysql_query($shipping_query);
    while($ship=mysql_fetch_array($shipping_result)) {
        $c_fname=$ship['fname'];
        $c_lname=$ship['lname'];
        $c_company=$ship['company'];
        $c_distributor=$ship['distributor'];
        $c_email=$ship['email'];
        $c_phone=$ship['phone'];
        $c_address1=$ship['address1'];
        $c_address2=$ship['address2'];
        $c_city=$ship['city'];
        $c_state=$ship['state'];
        $c_zip=$ship['zip'];
        $c_country=$ship['country'];
} 


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I would like to turn this into a function that I can just include. This is what I wrote and it doesn't seem to be working:

PHP Code:

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function shipQuery($mra_num) {
$shipping_query=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shipping WHERE mra_number='$mra_num'");
    while($ship=mysql_fetch_array($shipping_query)) {
        $ship['fname'] = $c_fname;
        $ship['lname'] = $c_lname;
        $ship['company'] = $c_company;
        $ship['distributor'] = $c_distributor;
        $ship['email'] = $c_email;
        $ship['phone'] = $c_phone;
        $ship['address1'] = $c_address1;
        $ship['address2'] = $c_address2;
        $ship['city'] = $c_city;
        $ship['state'] = $c_state;
        $ship['zip'] = $c_zip;
        $ship['country'] = $c_country;
    }
    
    return $ship;
} 


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If I try and echo $c_fname, the screen is blank. Any ideas?

Is mra_number the primary key or have a unique index (i.e. can you ever get more than one row)? If so, you could do something like:

PHP Code:

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function shipQuery($mra_num)
{
   $mra_num = (int)$mra_num; // force integer to prevent SQL injection
   $shipping_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shipping WHERE mra_number='$mra_num'");
   if(mysql_num_rows($shipping_query))
   {
      return(mysql_fetch_assoc($shipping_query)); // use fetch_assoc
   }
   return false;
} 


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If you can get more than one row, then:

PHP Code:

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function shipQuery($mra_num)
{
   $mra_num = (int)$mra_num; // force integer to prevent SQL injection
   $data = array();
   $shipping_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shipping WHERE mra_number='$mra_num'");
   while ($ship = mysql_fetch_assoc($shipping_query)) {  // fetch_assoc
      $data[] = $ship;
   }
   return $data;
} 


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$mra_number is the unique key across all my tables. Only one row per $mra number. How do I display the data from:

PHP Code:

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function shipQuery($mra_num) 
{ 
   $mra_num = (int)$mra_num; // force integer to prevent SQL injection 
   $shipping_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shipping WHERE mra_number='$mra_num'"); 
   if(mysql_num_rows($shipping_query)) 
   { 
      return(mysql_fetch_assoc($shipping_query)); // use fetch_assoc 
   } 
   return false; 
} 


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Just assign the return value of the function to a variable (which will be an array):

PHP Code:

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$ship = shipQuery($mra);
if(!empty($ship))
{
   echo "Hello, " . $ship['fname'];
}
else
{
   echo "No matching data found.";
} 


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