In PHP, how do I ask a mySQL database to retrieve the most recent record that matches a certain value?

Question

I have a table where the user will select a category and enter a search parameter, and I have to find the latest value in hat category.

An example of a dataset might be:

ID  | category  | name  | price | date
1   | bubblegum | Steve | 2.00  | 2011/1/1
2   | bubblegum | Bob   | 1.00  | 2011/1/8
3   | bubblegum | Steve | 1.80  | 2011/2/1

If the user searched for "Steve", they would get only the latest price that also has the name "steve" in it.

Max(date) doesn't seem to work though, and I don't understand why. I think it is because if, were I to look for "bob", because Bob doesn't appear in the Max(date), it won't show up. But maybe I am using the SELECT parameter wrong.

Answer 1

SELECT *
FROM yourtable
ORDER BY date DESC
WHERE name='Steve'
LIMIT 1

Answer 2

SELECT * FROM yourtable WHERE name='Steve' ORDER BY date DESC LIMIT 1