How can SQL queries be optimized for alphabetically sorting data in PHP applications?

To optimize SQL queries for alphabetically sorting data in PHP applications, you can use the ORDER BY clause in your SQL query to sort the data alphabetically based on a specific column. Additionally, you can add an index on the column you are sorting by to improve the query performance.

// SQL query to select data from a table and sort alphabetically by a column
$sql = "SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY column_name ASC";

// Execute the query and fetch the results
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $sql);

// Loop through the results and display the data
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo $row['column_name'] . "<br>";
}