If you do an INSERT and you generate an new number in an AUTO_INCREMENT field the new value generated can be retrieved using: *SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();*
You are not required to retrieve into the application and then use it back in another SQL statement... you can use user variables: *SELECT @lastGenerated:=LAST_INSERT_ID();* And then use: the variable in another query: *INSERT INTO someTbl (id, someCol, somCol2) VALUES (NULL, @lastGenerated, 'OutsideValue'); * Be warned that LAST_INSERT_ID() is functional only if you did not specified the AUTO_INCREMENT field's value... only if you did not specified the AUTO_INCREMENT field at all... or in the insert statement you used NULL or 0 as a value... those values are considered "magic" by MySQL in case of an AUTO_INCREMENT field. Now part 2... if you didn't created an AUTO_INCREMENT field... and only want to use the last value from that table: Either you use a MAX() request: *SELECT @lastGenerated:=MAX(columnName) FROM tableName* Or: *SHOW TABLE STATUS LIKE 'tableName'* and somewhere in the result is the AUTO_INCREMENT value. Good luck ! -- Gabriel PREDA Senior Web Developer
