Hi there, I am stumped on what is wrong with this update script, Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than myself can point me in the right direction
update.php

PHP Code:

<?php
require ('db.php');
 $sql = "SELECT * FROM profiles WHERE `id` = " . mysql_real_escape_string( $_GET['id'] );
 mysql_select_db ( $database, $connect );
 if ( @mysql_query ( $sql ) )
 {
  $query = mysql_query ( $sql );
  $row = mysql_fetch_assoc ( $query );
  if ( array_key_exists ( '_submit_check', $_POST ) )
  {
   if ( $_POST [ 'f_name' ] != '' && $_POST [ 'l_name' ] != '' && $_POST [ 'description' ] != '' )
   {
    mysql_select_db ( $database, $connect );
    $query =  "UPDATE 
       `profiles` 
      SET
       `f_name` = " . mysql_real_escape_string( $_POST [ 'f_name' ] ) . "
       `l_name` = " . mysql_real_escape_string( $_POST [ 'l_name' ] ) . "
       `description` = " . mysql_real_escape_string( $_POST [ 'description' ] ) . "
      WHERE
       `id` = " . mysql_real_escape_string( $_GET[`id`] );
 
 
    if ( @mysql_query ( $query ) )
    {
     $success = 'profile updated successfully!';
    }
    else {
     die ( mysql_error () );
    }
   }
   else {
    echo 'Please ensure that you have entered some data!';
   }
  }
 }
 else {
  die ( mysql_error () );
 }
 
 if ( isset ( $success ) ) {
  echo $success;
 }
 else {
?>

form to update

<form id="update" name="update" method="post" action="<?=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>">
  <input type="hidden" name="_submit_check" value="1"/> 
  Change First Name:<br />
  <input name="f_name" type="text" id="f_name" size="55" value="<?php if ( isset ( $_POST['f_name'] ) ){ echo $_POST['f_name']; }else{ echo $row['f_name'];} ?>" />
   <br /><br />
   Change Lirst Name:<br />
  <input name="l_name" type="text" id="l_name" size="55" value="<?php if ( isset ( $_POST['l_name'] ) ){ echo $_POST['l_name']; }else{ echo $row['l_name'];} ?>" />
   <br /><br />
  Description:<br />
  <textarea name="description" cols="55" rows="5" id="description"><?php if ( isset ( $_POST['description'] ) ){ echo $_POST['description']; }else{ echo $row['description'];} ?></textarea>
   <br /><br />
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" />
 </form>

end of update.php

PHP Code:

<?php } ?>

this is the error message I get
"You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1"
any help here would be appreciated

The error is a SQL query syntax error meaning that you have left out quoting, cammas, etc. Also noticed some unessecary spaces in your PHP vars. Replace the two SQL queries with the updated versions below and that should solve your problem.

PHP Code:

$sql = "
  SELECT *
  FROM profiles
  WHERE id = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['id']) . "'
";
 
 
$query = "
  UPDATE profiles
  SET
    f_name = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['f_name']) . "',
    l_name = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['l_name']) . "',
    description = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['description']) . "'
  WHERE id = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['id']) . "'
"; 


Thankyou for your speedy reply mgraphic, your solution has advanced the end resut a bit, which i truely appreciate, however the database itself still does not update, the script runs through to completion without errors and gives a confirmation that the profile has been updated but alas the database stays unchanged.