In what scenarios should the calculation of the weekday index be done directly in SQL rather than in PHP?

Calculating the weekday index directly in SQL can be more efficient when dealing with large datasets or when the calculation is part of a database query. This can reduce the amount of data transferred between the database and the application, leading to better performance. However, if the weekday index calculation is needed for display purposes or is part of more complex logic in the application, it may be better to perform the calculation in PHP.

// Example of calculating the weekday index directly in SQL
$query = "SELECT *, WEEKDAY(date_column) AS weekday_index FROM table_name";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo "Weekday Index: " . $row['weekday_index'] . "<br>";
}