when i try it this way: <?php // create short variable names $searchtype=$_POST['searchtype']; $searchtype=$_POST['searchterm']; $searchterm=trim($searchterm); if (!$searchtype || !$searchterm) { echo 'You have not entered search details. Please go back and try again.'; exit; } if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) { $searchtype=addslashes($searchtype); $searchterm=addslashes($searchterm); } $db = new mysqli('localhost', 'root', 'root', 'bookorama'); if(mysqli_connect_errno()) { echo 'Error: Could not connect to the Database. Please try again later.'; exit; } $query = "select * from books where ".$searchtype." like '%".$searchterm."%'"; $result = $db->query($query); $num_results = $result->num_rows; echo '<p>Number of books found: '.$num_results.'</p>'; for ($i=0; $i <$num_results; $i++) { $row = $result->fetch_assoc(); echo '<p><strong>'.($i+1).'. Title: '; echo htmlspecialchars(stripslashes($row['title'])); echo '</strong><br />Author: '; echo stripslashes($row['author']); echo '<br />ISBN: '; echo stripslashes($row['isbn']); echo '<br />Price: '; echo stripslashes($row['price']); echo '</p>'; } var_export($result); $result->free(); $db->close(); ?> It doesn't even try searching the database... it gives me the: 'You have not entered search details. Please go back and try again. Error. when i comment out the IF statement and add the var_export($result) (just to see what it happens) it gives me this error: =============================================== Number of books found: false Fatal error: Call to a member function free() on a non-object in c:\wamp\www\books\results.php on line 56 =============================================== the HTML code is: =============================================== <form action="results.php" method="post"> Choose Search Type: <br /> <select name="searchtype"> <option value="author">Author</option> <option value="title">Title</option> <option value="isbn">ISBN</option> </select> <br /> Enter Search Term:<br /> <input name="searchterm" type="text"> <br /> <input type="submit" value="Search"> </form> ================================================ maybe i'm just tired and not seeing something - but i've looked a thousand times and i have no clue why it's doing this... searches on google prove nothing either. Server Configuration Apache version : Apache/1.3.33 (Win32) (WIN XP) PHP version : 5.0.4 MySQL version : 5.0.7-beta-nt - extension : mysqli Thanks again, Clint