In what situations would using the mysql_fetch_array function in PHP be more beneficial than other methods for retrieving data from a MySQL database?

Using the mysql_fetch_array function in PHP would be more beneficial when you need to retrieve data from a MySQL database and access the results using both column names and numerical indices. This function returns an array that corresponds to the fetched row, allowing you to access data using both methods.

$query = "SELECT * FROM table_name";
$result = mysql_query($query);

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
    echo $row['column_name']; // Access data using column names
    echo $row[0]; // Access data using numerical indices
}