Select statement isn't working properly

[golffor1]

I have the following code

//query to find the find out if the player_id exsist in the database
			$sql = mysql_query("SELECT Player_number FROM players where Player_First_Name like '$first' AND Player_Last_Name like '$second' AND Inactive_player = 1 AND player_email = '$email' or player_email2 = '$email'") or die ("Find Player Number Error: " .mysql_error()); 
				while($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql))
				{
					$playerID = $row['Player_number'];
					echo $playerID;
					$username = $playerID;
					$isError = "3";
				}

When I tell it to look for valid information it never goes through the while statement, and i don't get an errors. I know it should go through the while statement but I don't see why it isn't.

[AndrewGSW]

LIKE '$first'

Even though you are using LIKE it is still looking for an exact match. You need to include at least one wildcard:

% matches any sequence of characters
_ will match precisely one character

so

PHP Code:

LIKE '$first%' 


will match names that begin with the text of $first.

But I suspect you also need to use brackets ( ) around your ANDs and OR expressions to get the correct logic.

[AndrewGSW]

.. probably you need this:

PHP Code:

AND (player_email = '$email' OR player_email2 = '$email') 


but that's just an assumption. (I prefer to capitalize SQL keywords.)