If you use a CMS like AlientWebguy is suggesting, you'll never learn... and I assume you're here to learn. You should start with a tutorial though, as this is pretty basic stuff.
But to accomplish what you are trying to do - if I was a novice - this is what I would do. I'm not going to give you your code, but it's is definitely close enough that you should be able to figure it out.
I would make a file called functions.php that included the following:
<?PHP
// these are freebies. You don't need to understand them yet.
function sqlarr($sql, $numass=MYSQL_BOTH) {
// MYSQL_NUM MYSQL_ASSOC MYSQL_BOTH
$got = array();
$result=mysql_query($sql) or die("$sql: " . mysql_error());
if(mysql_num_rows($result) == 0)
return $got;
mysql_data_seek($result, 0);
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, $numass)) {
array_push($got, $row);
}
return $got;
}
// Sql fetch assoc
function sqlassoc($sql){
$query = mysql_query($sql) or die("$sql:". mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query);
return $row;
}
function sqlrow($sql){
$query = mysql_query($sql) or die("$sql:". mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_row($query);
return $row;
}
function sqlquery($sql){
$query = mysql_query($sql) or die("$sql:". mysql_error());
return $row;
}
?>
Then on the file that I was going to output data, I would put the following:
<?PHP include('./functions.php');
// It sounds like you are already connected to your database, so I'm going to skip that. If you need it, add a comment.
$sql = "SELECT `colNames`, `colName2` FROm `tableName` WHERE `col` = 'condition' ";
// obviously change this to your names, such as `itemNumber`
$results = sqlarr( $sql ); // Now results is going to automatically contain a 2D array.
echo '<pre>'; print_r( $results ); echo '</pre>';
/* this is just to show you what is happening so far. You should get in the habit of using things like this to debug. A lot of people prefer var_dump instead of print_r. I use both because var_dump is harder to read.
// Result should be returning something like this:
// array(
[0] => array(
[0] => 'ABC123',
["itemNumber"] => 'ABC123',
[1] => 'http://www.abc.com',
["link"] => 'http://www.abc.com' ),
[1] => array( ... )
)
// the first level - the [0] => array( or the [1] => array( part - corresponds to a row in your database
// so now we need a way to filter through those rows. Look up php.net/for or php.net/foreach to see how to accomplish that. A lot of people use php.net/while too, but I don't prefer that personally. */
?>
<html>
<body>
<table>
<?PHP
foreach( $results as $row ){ // this is turning $result[0] => array( into $row. So now we can access $result[0]['linkName'] as $row['linkName']
echo '<tr><td>'.$row['linkName'].'</td></tr>';
} // foreach $row - dont forget to close your curly bracket. Good practice is to always close it as soon as you open it, and to put a comment after it like I just did letting you know what it goes to
?>
</table>
</body>
</html>
If anything doesn't make sense here, just leave a comment. I'm happy to explain.