<?php
 
//lets start by connecting to mysql you only have to do this once in your page.
$con = mysql_connect('yourhost','yourusername','yourpassword');
if (!$con) {
die ('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
 
//select your database
mysql_select_db('yourdatabase', $con);
 
 
//now query the database
$query = "SELECT bookid, title, author, checkedout FROM booktable WHERE bookid=5";
$result = mysql_query($query, $con);
 
//But now the result is in the form of an object.  To get information out, we can use mysql_fetch_assoc().
 
$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)
 
$bookid=$row['bookid'];  // now $bookid has the bookid for this book.
$title=$row['title'];  //same here, etc.
$author=$row['author'];
 
?>