In what scenarios would it be more appropriate to sort data directly in MySQL queries rather than in PHP arrays?

Sorting data directly in MySQL queries is more appropriate when dealing with large datasets or when the sorting needs to be done before fetching the data to minimize the amount of data transferred between the database and the application. This approach can also be more efficient as MySQL can utilize indexes for sorting, resulting in faster query execution times. Additionally, sorting in MySQL queries can simplify the code and reduce the complexity of the PHP application. 

// Example of sorting data directly in MySQL query
$query = "SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY last_name ASC";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    // Process the sorted data
    echo $row['first_name'] . ' ' . $row['last_name'] . '<br>';
}

Keywords

MySQL queries sorting data PHP arrays performance optimization

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