Question : null fields

I have a form where people can enter as much info as they wish and then thats inserted into the db. I need to retrieve their last entry. Theres 5 columns and people can complete as few as they wish. How do I write the code to retrieve column 5 but if its null then retrieve column 4. If its null I need column 3. If 3 is null then it would retrieve 2, etc. Thank you so much. This site has helped me tremendously. Thanks to everyone who is helping and has helped.

Answer : null fields

Use COALESCE in your SQL:

SELECT COALESCE(column5,column4,column3,column2,column1,0) FROM mytable;

COALESCE returns the first value listed that is non-null.  Sounds perfect for your situation.