$wpdb->get_var("SELECT 1 FROM ... ") not working

[orvar]

Using queries like

$a = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT 1 FROM ... ")

to confirm the existence of something in a table does not work ($a is not set to 1). wpdb seems to have a problem with the fact that the column has a numerical name in the result as

$a = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT 1 AS x FROM ... ")

works fine ($a == 1).

[foolswisdom]

orvar, you are using which version of WordPress?

[orvar]

Replying to foolswisdom:

orvar, you are using which version of WordPress?

sorry, 2.1.2

[orvar]

This problem stem from mysql_fetch_object which is being used in wpdb->query. Selecting any numerical value, even if its in quotes, results in an empty object (eg. "SELECT 1000,'123',2007 FROM ...").

Maybe the ​Codex should just reflect that get_var("SELECT 1 FROM ...") does not work (its a fairly common practice) -- while alternatives like get_var("SELECT 1=1 FROM ...") and get_var("SELECT TRUE FROM ...") for some reason do work (TRUE is an alias for 1 in mysql).

This could though be fixed with a query filter in the core -- but is it worth it?

[rob1n]

No, I don't think it is.

This is mainly because object vars can't start with numbers -- only A-Z or _. I don't see a very big need for this, and, as you said, there are other ways.

[puggan]

If this is a "wontfix", could you at least update the manual (​https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/wpdb), so it says that columnname cant be numeric.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to puggan:

If this is a "wontfix", could you at least update the manual (​https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/wpdb), so it says that columnname cant be numeric.

Codex is a wiki, anyone with a WordPress.org account can edit the documentation there, including yourself :)