title: what is the code in php to check if user already Exist or not?
body: <p>I'm new in php and mysql. I'm trying to check if the user is already taken or not. If it's taken then it won't added to the database. However, I tried a lot of code to do this trick but none of the code I used worked. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. This what I have right now:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?php
  
  include 'db_settings.php';
  
  db_connect();
  
  //Escape variables for security
  $user = mysqli_real_escape_string($con, $_POST['user']);
  $pass = mysqli_real_escape_string($con, $_POST['pass']);
  $email = mysqli_real_escape_string($con, $_POST['email']);
  $sql="INSERT INTO users (user, pass, email)
          VALUES ('$user','$pass', '$email')";
  
  
  if (!mysqli_query($con,$sql)) {
      die('Error: ' . mysqli_error($con));
  }
  
  echo "1 record added&lt;/br&gt;";
  
  mysqli_close($con);
  
  echo "&lt;a href='sign-up.html'&gt;sing-up again!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/br&gt;";
  echo "&lt;a href='index.html'&gt; Go Back Home &lt;/a&gt;";
  
  ?&gt;`
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I know this code don't have the checking function for the user if already taken or not because I deleted all the codes about it. So if it's possible if you could guys help me I will appreciate it.</p>