How can PHP beginners avoid duplicating links and ensure the functionality of sorting data in a MySQL database?

To avoid duplicating links and ensure the functionality of sorting data in a MySQL database, beginners can use SQL queries to retrieve and display unique data from the database. By using the DISTINCT keyword in the SQL query, duplicates can be eliminated. Additionally, beginners can use the ORDER BY clause in the SQL query to sort the data based on a specific column.

// Connect to the database
$connection = mysqli_connect("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Retrieve unique data from the database and sort it
$query = "SELECT DISTINCT column_name FROM table_name ORDER BY column_name ASC";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Display the sorted data
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo $row['column_name'] . "<br>";
}

// Close the connection
mysqli_close($connection);