Ok so I previously have asked about setting up counter on number of downloads, and I succeeded so thanks to all who helped me out. But now I have another problem and that is to actually update the table with new incremented value.
So what I do is this

$user_name = "***";
$password = "***";
$database = "s_data";
$server = "***";

$db = mysql_connect($server, $user_name, $password);
$db_counter = mysql_select_db($database, $db_section);

$SQL = "SELECT * FROM `data`";
$result = mysql_query($SQL);

while ($db_field = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
    if(($db_field['section'] == $_POST['section'])&&($db_field['course'] == $_POST['course'])&&($db_field['type'] == $_POST['type'])&&($db_field['name'] == $_POST['file']))
    {
        $section = $db_field['section'];
        $course = $db_field['course'];
        $type = $db_field['type'];
        $link = $db_field['link'];
        $name = $db_field['name'];
        $year = $db_field['year'];
        $prof = $db_field['prof'];
        $rank = $db_field['rank'];
        $downloads = $db_field['downloads'];
    }
}
$counter = $downloads+1;

UPDATE 'data'
SET `downloads` = $counter 
WHERE CONVERT( `data`.`section` USING utf8 ) = $section AND CONVERT( `data`.`course` USING utf8 ) = $course AND CONVERT( `data`.`type` USING utf8 ) = $type AND CONVERT( `data`.`link` USING utf8 ) = $link AND CONVERT( `data`.`name` USING utf8 ) = $name AND `data`.`year` = $year AND CONVERT( `data`.`prof` USING utf8 ) = $prof AND `data`.`rank` = $rank AND `data`.`downloads` = $downloads LIMIT 1 ;

mysql_close($db);
?>

Thank you <br />
Your download will begin in 3 seconds
<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="3;url=<?php echo $link; ?>">

Well I get user through 4 pages of selection, in each page he gives me 4 pieces of data which are course section, course code, type of file and then when he clicks on the actual file i know which file he wants from the list
So I search through my database for all those 4 matching items in the while loop, and when I find it I store that data, increment download value and try to update it, but unfrotunately right where it says update I got this erorr
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING in /home/***/public_html/database/index5.php

so if anyone can please give me a crash course on how to do update I will be more than happy

Now the sql consists of section s_data which contains my table named data
I read up saying when you use update you have to specify table name, but how will it know that the table named data is located under s_data?
I really do not know how to update sorry for sounding like a noob.
And thanks to all who can help me

because this

UPDATE 'data'
SET `downloads` = $counter 
WHERE CONVERT( `data`.`section` USING utf8 ) = $section AND CONVERT( `data`.`course` USING utf8 ) = $course AND CONVERT( `data`.`type` USING utf8 ) = $type AND CONVERT( `data`.`link` USING utf8 ) = $link AND CONVERT( `data`.`name` USING utf8 ) = $name AND `data`.`year` = $year AND CONVERT( `data`.`prof` USING utf8 ) = $prof AND `data`.`rank` = $rank AND `data`.`downloads` = $downloads LIMIT 1 ;

Should be a string variable to be used in a query.

So how do I use it as a string in a query?
Am I supposed to create a varibale like

$stringvar = UPDATE 'data'
SET `downloads` = $counter 
WHERE CONVERT( `data`.`section` USING utf8 ) = $section AND CONVERT( `data`.`course` USING utf8 ) = $course AND CONVERT( `data`.`type` USING utf8 ) = $type AND CONVERT( `data`.`link` USING utf8 ) = $link AND CONVERT( `data`.`name` USING utf8 ) = $name AND `data`.`year` = $year AND CONVERT( `data`.`prof` USING utf8 ) = $prof AND `data`.`rank` = $rank AND `data`.`downloads` = $downloads LIMIT 1 ;

Well, with the addition of quote marks. Yes

$stringvar = " UPDATE 'data'
SET `downloads` = $counter
WHERE CONVERT( `data`.`section` USING utf8 ) = $section AND CONVERT( `data`.`course` USING utf8 ) = $course AND CONVERT( `data`.`type` USING utf8 ) = $type AND CONVERT( `data`.`link` USING utf8 ) = $link AND CONVERT( `data`.`name` USING utf8 ) = $name AND `data`.`year` = $year AND CONVERT( `data`.`prof` USING utf8 ) = $prof AND `data`.`rank` = $rank AND `data`.`downloads` = $downloads LIMIT 1 ;"

Thanks a lot for all of your help, I really appreciate it. There is just one last leg of the problem left
How do I execute it? Is there a certain command that if I run will update the table?
And how will it know that I want data table from s_data database? I have other tables named data in the other databases.

You need to read up on the basics of MySQL. Try the tutorials on tizag.com.

How do I execute it?

The same way the code is executed earlier in your code

PHP Code:

$SQL = "SELECT * FROM `data`";
$result = mysql_query($SQL);