Is there are reason you are not doing this with just an UPDATE query? Something like the following:

UPDATE 'table' SET 'column' = REPLACE('column', '25' 'replacementdata')

So it's not just replacing everywhere it encounters 25? At any rate, even if I don't quite understand what you are trying to do,  it still seems like the best way to do this is all in MySQL, not PHP.

Because string positions start at 0, not 1. Read the warning and solutions here: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.strpos.php

>I understand that it starts at 0.  it should still work.

No, it will not work.

>$test = findUserID($pendingFriends, "25");

If the position of the found string is 0, then $test equals 0

>if($test){

0 evaluates to boolean false, so this test fails, making it appear that the string was not found. Try

if($test === false)

>but i was returning values "true" or "false", right?

No. strpos() returns the position of the string if found, and FALSE if not found. If the string is found in position 0, then 0 is returned. Integer zero is evaluated as false. Hence the warning on the page I referred you to.

>Oh, so if it finds it or not, it automatically returns the value? 

Let me try to explain again. The function strpos() returns two types of values. It returns an integer value if the string is found. It returns the boolean value FALSE if the string is not found. It never returns the boolean value TRUE. If the string is found in position zero, it returns the integer value zero. Zero is not a boolean value, but in php and many other languages, zero is evaluated as boolean FALSE.

>i can't overide it with "return true/false"?

I'm not sure what you mean. You have to treat the returned value in such as way that integer zero will not be evaluated as FALSE. Use the "===" operator for this. Or in the case of replacing the code you have, use the "!==" operator

if($test !== false)

If strpos() did not find the string, $test will equal false and the expression above will evaluate false.  If it returns any integer, the expression will evaluate as true.

You're welcome. It appears to me that the reason you've run into this problem stems from the fact that you are storing multiple values in a single column.

>i have two columns in my db: pending and friends.

This creates all sorts of problems and violates the most basic normalization rules. Instead, think about moving that relation into another table.

Yes. It could have columns for the user, friend and a boolean to indicate if friend is confirmed or pending.

No, it won't be slower. How many rows are you anticipating? Put an index on the column that will be used in the where clause.