[RESOLVED] Check User Existence

[TheBigB]

Hi guys,

Problem's this: I can't work with sql in php...
So, I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a simple(?) user existence script.

DB: subscription
Table: users
Field: username

I need something like a function which returns true or false
This is the code that I already have, but it isn't working

<?
	function querydb($query, $host, $user, $pass, $db)
		{
			$connid = @mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass) or die("Connection to the server failed");
			@mysql_select_db($db) or die ("Connection to database failed");
			$retval = @mysql_query($query) or die ("Query excecution failed");
			return $retval;
		}
		
	function checkuser($username)
		{
			$username = strtolower($username);
			$q = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '$username'";
			$ret = querydb($q, 'localhost', 'root', '', 'subscription');
			while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($ret)) {
				$myret = $row["username"];
			}
			if ($myret != ''){
				//echo "Username is unavailable";
				echo $myret;
			}
			else{
				//echo "Username is available";
				echo $myret;
			}
		}
?>

Thanks for any help