title: How to fix "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'echo' (T_ECHO)" in PHP when running a select query from MySql
body: <p>Im trying to populate a php veriable from a MySql query to use later on when sending an email via php. Please see below below code for populating the veriable. I have not included the mysql_connect and mysql_select_db as this this a live db and i know the connections work. Also before you state that i should be using mysqli or POD i know but the server cannot be updated as there is a large number of pages that rely on the old code.</p>
  
  <p>Error - Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'echo' (T_ECHO)</p>
  
  <pre><code>$emailaddress = "SELECT e_mail FROM frm_change_approver WHERE user_id LIKE '$approvingmanagername'";
  $result = mysql_fetch_array($emailaddress);
  
  $approveremail = echo $result['e_mail'];
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I need $approveremail to be populated via the above query as i already have the email address for the user in the database and dont want a user to type the wrong one, i only capture the users user_id in the form as i dont want there to be an email address field at all. I will then use the populated veriable to send the email to that person.</p>
  
  <p>any help will be greatly appreciated.</p>