This is a function easily convertible into a method to use inside of a class that as the name says, get columns names from mysql table, will return all the columns names from a given table in the provided database. The mysql connection used is the native PHP driver PDO. The difference to other one that i also have here in Gist is that this one u…

getAllColumnsNamesFromMysqlTable.php

<?php

/**
 * getAllColumnsNamesFromMysqlTable.php
 * 
 * @author  Paulo Silva(Exadra37)     exadra37 in gmail point com
 * @package exadra37/PDO
 * @version 0.0.2
 * @since   24/01/2014 - v.0.0.1
 *          25/01/2014 - v.0.0.2
 *
 */

// Report all PHP Errors
error_reporting(E_ALL);

// Set execution time to unlimited
set_time_limit(0);

// Use UK Time
date_default_timezone_set('Europe/London');

// THIS IS THE CONTENT OF SETTINGS.INC.PHP:
// define('_DB_NAME_', 'your_database_name');
// define('_DB_TABLE_NAME_', 'your_table_name');
// define('_DB_USER_NAME_', 'your_user_name');
// define('_DB_PASSWORD_', 'your_password');
// define('_DB_HOST_', 'localhost');
require_once 'config/settings.inc.php';

/**
 * Database Settings from defined constants in config/settings.inc.php
 *
 * IMPORTANT:  - Never put this information in your script
 *             - Always retrieve it from a config file
 *             - The folder where the config file resides should be protected with a .htaccess file containing the line "deny from all"
 */

$host = _DB_HOST_;

$database_name = _DB_NAME_;

$table_name = _DB_TABLE_NAME_;

/**
 * getAllColumnsNamesFromMysqlTable
 *     - As the name says will return all the columns names from the mysql table.
 *
 * @param  string $host          - can be: localhost, 127.0.0.1, ip address or domain name
 * @param  string $database_name - The name of your database
 * @param  string $table_name    - The name of the table in database
 * @return array                 - On success:
 *                                     array(
 *                                         'pdo_rows_count'      => integer,
 *                                         'mysql_columns_names' => array()
 *                                         )
 *                               - On error:
 *                                     array(
 *                                         'pdo_exception'       => integer,
 *                                     )
 *
 */
function getAllColumnsNamesFromMysqlTable($host, $database_name, $table_name)
{
    try {

        // Creating a connection to mysl database
        // If you already have a PDO connection instantiated uncomment the line 71 and do the following:
        //      - rename the function to getAllColumnsNamesFromMysqlTable($PDO)
        //      - Then call the function like this: getAllColumnsNamesFromMysqlTable($your_pdo_connection)
        $PDO = new PDO("mysql:host={$host};dbname={$database_name}", _DB_USER_NAME_, _DB_PASSWORD_);

        // Setting error level
        $PDO->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

        // Building the query
        $query = "
            SELECT `COLUMN_NAME`
            FROM `INFORMATION_SCHEMA`.`COLUMNS`
            WHERE `TABLE_SCHEMA`= :database_name
            AND `TABLE_NAME`= :table_name";

        // Binding the values(database_name, table_name) to the query
        // This method is good to prevent sql injection
        // http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/php/php-database-access-are-you-doing-it-correctly/
        // http://wiki.hashphp.org/PDO_Tutorial_for_MySQL_Developers
        $bind = array(
            'database_name' => $database_name,
            'table_name'    => $table_name
            );

        // Prepare the query for execution
        // At this moment the query don't have yet the values
        $select = $PDO->prepare($query);

        // Binding the values to the placeholders (:database_name, :table_name) presents in the query
        $select->execute($bind);

        // Get the number of rows that mysql have returned
        $result['pdo_rows_count'] = $select->rowCount();

        // Loop the results to retrieve only what we need in a better format
        // var_dump($result['mysql_columns_names']) will return:
        // array (size=4)
        //    0 => string 'recid' (length=5)
        //    1 => string 'rcode' (length=5)
        //    2 => string 'storeName' (length=9)
        //    3 => string 'scode' (length=5)
        while ($row = $select->fetch()) {
            $result['mysql_columns_names'][] = $row['COLUMN_NAME'];
        }

    } catch (PDOException $e) {

        // Retrieves the error for posterior handling
        $result['pdo_exception'] = 'ERROR: '.$e->getMessage();
    }

    return $result ;
}

// How to call the function
$result = getAllColumnsNamesFromMysqlTable($host, $database_name, $table_name);

/**
 * HOW TO WORK WITH THE RESULT
 */

// Checking for errors
if (isset($result['pdo_exception'])) {

    // Do something with the error
    die($result['pdo_exception']);
}

// Assigning the number o rows returned from PDO
$pdo_rows_count = $result['pdo_rows_count'];

// Assigning all the columns names from the mysql table
$mysql_columns_names = $result['mysql_columns_names'];

/**
 * Now use the data according with your needs
 */

// Uncomment following  3 lines to debug results
echo '<pre><hr>';
print_r($result);
echo '</pre>';