Dear all, i need help with my search query statement.. what is wrong with my code? <snip> $word = split(" ", $keyword); $num_words = count($word); $word_str = ""; $criteria = ""; for ($i=0; $i<$num_words; $i++) { if ($i) $word_str .= "and colName like '%".$word[$i]."%' "; else $word_str .= "colName like '%".$word[$i]."%' "; } $word_str .= "and col2 = '$foo' "; $criteria .= "$word_str "; $table .= "db_table"; $query = "select * from ".$table." where ".$criteria; </snip> when i try to echo $query, i get --- select * from where and so of course MySQL gives me an error 1064 near ' where ' what happened? thanx thanx! hwee