How can PHP arrays be utilized to sort and display data from a SQL table in a more efficient manner?

When retrieving data from a SQL table, it can be beneficial to store the results in a PHP array for easier manipulation and sorting. By using PHP arrays, we can efficiently organize and display the data in a more structured manner. To achieve this, we can fetch the data from the SQL table, store it in a PHP array, and then use PHP array functions like `sort()` or `usort()` to sort the data based on specific criteria. 

// Connect to the database
$connection = new mysqli('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'database');

// Check connection
if ($connection->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $connection->connect_error);
}

// Fetch data from SQL table
$sql = "SELECT * FROM table_name";
$result = $connection->query($sql);

// Store data in a PHP array
$data = array();
if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
    while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
        $data[] = $row;
    }
}

// Sort the data based on a specific criteria
usort($data, function($a, $b) {
    return $a['column_name'] <=> $b['column_name'];
});

// Display the sorted data
foreach ($data as $row) {
    echo $row['column_name'] . " - " . $row['another_column'] . "<br>";
}

// Close the connection
$connection->close();

Keywords

PHP arrays SQL table sorting efficiency

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