Why do I get "Resource id #4" when I apply print_r() to an array in PHP? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate:
How do i “echo” a “Resource id #6” from a MySql response in PHP?

Below is the code:

$result=mysql_query("select * from choices where a_id='$taskid'")or die(mysql_error());
print_r($result);

I get "Resource id #4", any idea?

After I added

while($row=mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{ print_r($row); }

I just got []

What's wrong?

You are trying to print a mysql resource variable instead of the values contained within the resource it references. You must first try to extract the values you have gotten by using a function such as mysql_fetch_assoc().

You might also try mysql_fetch_array() or mysql_fetch_row(), but I find associative arrays quite nice as they allow you to access their values by the field name as in Mike's example.

mysql_query() does not return an array as explained in the manual. Use mysql_fetch_array(), mysql_fetch_assoc(), or mysql_fetch_row() with your $result. See the link above for more info on how to manipulate query results.

$result = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM table');
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo $row["userid"];
    echo $row["fullname"];
    echo $row["userstatus"];
}