How does the placement of mysql_query affect the functionality of mysql_insert_id in PHP?

The placement of mysql_query affects the functionality of mysql_insert_id because mysql_insert_id retrieves the ID generated for an AUTO_INCREMENT column by the previous query. If mysql_insert_id is called before the query that inserts the data into the database, it will not return the correct ID. To solve this issue, make sure to call mysql_insert_id immediately after the mysql_query that inserts the data.

// Insert data into the database
$query = "INSERT INTO table_name (column_name) VALUES ('value')";
mysql_query($query);

// Get the ID generated for the AUTO_INCREMENT column
$inserted_id = mysql_insert_id();