Is using mysqli_fetch_assoc() a better approach than mysqli_fetch_row() when creating a CSV file in PHP?

When creating a CSV file in PHP, using mysqli_fetch_assoc() is generally a better approach than mysqli_fetch_row(). This is because mysqli_fetch_assoc() returns an associative array with column names as keys, making it easier to map the data to CSV headers. On the other hand, mysqli_fetch_row() returns a numerical array, which requires additional logic to map the data correctly. 

<?php
// Connect to database
$conn = mysqli_connect("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Query to fetch data
$query = "SELECT * FROM table";
$result = mysqli_query($conn, $query);

// Create CSV file
$fp = fopen('output.csv', 'w');

// Write headers
$headers = array();
while ($fieldinfo = mysqli_fetch_field($result)) {
    $headers[] = $fieldinfo->name;
}
fputcsv($fp, $headers);

// Write data
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    fputcsv($fp, $row);
}

// Close file and database connection
fclose($fp);
mysqli_close($conn);
?>

Keywords

mysqli_fetch_assoc mysqli_fetch_row CSV file PHP data retrieval

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