Query in Codeigniter

SOLUTION ONE

$this->db->where('id', '3');
// here we select every column of the table
$q = $this->db->get('my_users_table');
$data = $q->result_array();

echo($data[0]['age']);

SOLUTION TWO

// here we select just the age column
$this->db->select('age');
$this->db->where('id', '3');
$q = $this->db->get('my_users_table');
$data = $q->result_array();

echo($data[0]['age']);

SOLUTION THREE

$this->db->select('age');
$this->db->where('id', '3');
$q = $this->db->get('my_users_table');
// if id is unique, we want to return just one row
$data = array_shift($q->result_array());

echo($data['age']);

SOLUTION FOUR (NO ACTIVE RECORD)

$q = $this->db->query('SELECT age FROM my_users_table WHERE id = ?',array(3));
$data = array_shift($q->result_array());
echo($data['age']);

you can use row() instead of result()

$this->db->where('id', '3');
$q = $this->db->get('my_users_table')->row();

Accessing a single row

//Result as an Object
$result = $this->db->select('age')->from('my_users_table')->where('id', '3')->limit(1)->get()->row();
echo $result->age;

//Result as an Array
$result = $this->db->select('age')->from('my_users_table')->where('id', '3')->limit(1)->get()->row_array();
echo $result['age'];