foreach ($row as $key => $value) {$$key = $value;}

foreach ($row as $key => $value) {
$$key = $value;
if ($new_$$key==$$key){echo "$new_$$key is same as old $$key, which is $value\n";
}

if ($new_$$key==$$key){echo "$new_$$key is equal to $$key\n";}
or
if ($new_$key==$$key){echo "$new_$key is equal to $$key\n";}

<pre>
<?php
require ("..\config.php");
 
 
$repl="$-$$";
$spr="*";
$data = explode($repl,$HTTP_SERVER_VARS['PATH_INFO']);
 
 
$new_datestamp = $data[1];
$new_datestamp=str_replace($repl, "/", $new_datestamp);
$new_timestamp = str_replace($spr," ", $data[2]);
$new_hostname = str_replace($spr," ", $data[3]);
$new_serial1 = str_replace($spr," ", $data[4]);
$new_serial2 = str_replace($spr," ", $data[5]);
$new_serial3 = str_replace($spr," ", $data[6]);  $serial3 = str_replace(".","", $serial3);
$new_primaryip = str_replace($spr," ", $data[7]);
$new_primarymac = str_replace($spr," ", $data[8]);
$new_lastuser = str_replace($spr," ", $data[9]);
$new_make = str_replace($spr," ", $data[10]);
$new_model = str_replace($spr," ", $data[11]);
$new_chassis_type = str_replace($spr," ", $data[12]);
$new_cpu_info = str_replace($spr," ", $data[13]);
$new_cpu_info2 = str_replace($spr," ", $data[14]);
$new_hdd = str_replace($spr," ", $data[15]);
$new_optical = str_replace($spr," ", $data[16]);
$new_ram = str_replace($spr," ", $data[17]);
$new_os = str_replace($spr," ", $data[18]);
$new_sp = str_replace($spr," ", $data[19]);
$new_iever = str_replace($spr," ", $data[20]);
$new_av = str_replace($spr," ", $data[21]);
$new_avver = str_replace($spr," ", $data[22]);
$new_avdat = str_replace($spr," ", $data[23]);
$new_monitor = str_replace($spr," ", $data[24]);
$new_chipset = str_replace($spr," ", $data[25]);
$new_audio = str_replace($spr," ", $data[26]);
$new_cproxy = str_replace($spr," ", $data[27]);
$new_lproxy = str_replace($spr," ", $data[28]);
 
$sqlone = "SELECT * FROM `aidahardware` where `hostname` = '$new_hostname' LIMIT 1";
$result = mysql_query($sqlone) or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
 
foreach ($row as $key => $value) {
        $$key = $value;
        if ($new_$$key==$$key){echo "$new_$$key is equal to $$key\n";}
}
?>

$sql = "SELECT * FROM `aidahardware` where `hostname` = 'WHATEVER' LIMIT 1"; // or $sql could be any query but this is just to give you an idea
$result = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
 
$field1=$row['field1'];
$field2=$row['field2'];
$field3=$row['field3'];
$field4=$row['field4'];

$sql = "SELECT * FROM `aidahardware` where `hostname` = 'WHATEVER' LIMIT 1"; // or $sql could be any query but this is just to give you an idea
$result = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
foreach ($row as $key => $value) {$$key = $value;}

<?php
$table1 = array (
          array ("Field1"=>"Value11", "Field2"=>"Value12", "Field3"=>"Value13"),
          array ("Field1"=>"Value21", "Field2"=>"Value22", "Field3"=>"Value23"),
          array ("Field1"=>"Value31", "Field2"=>"Value32", "Field3"=>"Value33"));
$table2 = array (
          array ("NewName1"=>"NewValue11", "NewName2"=>"NewValue12", "NewName3"=>"NewValue13"),
          array ("NewName1"=>"NewValue21", "NewName2"=>"NewValue22", "NewName3"=>"NewValue23"),
          array ("NewName1"=>"NewValue31", "NewName2"=>"NewValue32", "NewName3"=>"NewValue33"));
 
function showTable ($table)
{
        $columnHeads = array_keys ($table[0]);
        echo "<pre>";
        foreach ($columnHeads as $head)
                echo $head."\t\t";
        echo "<br>";
        foreach ($columnHeads as $head)
        {
                for ($i = 0; $i < strlen ($head); $i++)
                        echo "-";
                echo "\t\t";
        }
        echo "<br>";
        foreach ($table as $row)
        {
                foreach ($columnHeads as $head) echo $row [$head]."\t\t";
                echo "<br>";
        }
        echo "<br>";
        echo "</pre>";
}
 
showTable ($table1);
showTable ($table2);
 
?>

<pre>
<?php
//connect to my MySQL database etc.
require("..\config.php");
$repl="$-$$";
$spr="*";
 
$data = explode($repl,$HTTP_SERVER_VARS['PATH_INFO']);
 
$new = array();
$fields = array('','datestamp','timestamp','hostname','serial1','serial2','serial3','primaryip','primarymac','lastuser','make','model',
                      'chassis_type','cpu_info','cpu_info2','hdd','optical','ram','os','sp','iever','av','avver','avdat','monitor','chipset','audio',
                      'currproxy','lanproxy');
 
//   I want the program to only watch these fields for changes.. I will program that
//   in later - I could have done all this with IF but I knew that this would change
//   dynamically and I wanted the program to be more versatile.
$watchedfields = array ('ram','primarymac','serial1','serial2','serial3');
 
//remove MB from amount of ram, i.e. 1024*MB becomes simply 1024
$data[17] = str_replace('*MB','',$data[17]);
 
//remove periods from serial3
$new['serial3'] = str_replace(".","", $new['serial3']);
 
$new['datestamp'] = $data[1];
//leave this for now as it is another thing entirely that's not too important to what I'm doing currently
//$new['datestamp']=str_replace($repl, "/", $new['datestamp']);
 
 
for ($i=2;$i<count($fields);$i++)
    $new[$fields[$i]] = str_replace($spr,' ',$data[$i]);
 
$sqlone = "SELECT * FROM `aidahardware` where `hostname` = '" . $new['hostname'] . "' LIMIT 1";
$result = mysql_query($sqlone) or die("Problem with the query: $sqlone<br>" . mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);
 
foreach ($fields as $dmy => $fld) {
     if ($new[$fld] != $row[$fld])
             {echo $fld." has changed,old value: [" . $row[$fld] . "] new value: [" . $new[$fld]. "]\n";}
}
 
 
?>