php - Fetching single row, single column with PDO

Question

I have a mysql query that targets a single column in a single row

"SELECT some_col_name FROM table_name WHERE user=:user"

After I execute the statement $stmt->execute(); how do I get this single cell directly placed into a variable with no loops? In other words how to get

from $stmt->execute();

to $col_value = 100;

I tried the 2 below, but neither worked.. The column is number 4 in the original table, but I'm assuming since in my select statement I'm selecting it only, it should be 1 when I specify the parameter for fetchColumn.

$col_value = $stmt->fetchColumn();
$col_value = $stmt->fetchColumn(0);

As you can see, I'm trying to do it in as few lines as possible.

Answer 1

Are you sure it's returning any rows?

$stmt->fetchColumn()

is correct way to fetch a single value, so either you probably didn't bind the :user parameter or it simply returned no rows.