Question

How would I retrieve the information without calling multiple fetches?

for ($course_period=1; $course_period<=4; $course_period++) {
    $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM courses WHERE id=".$course[$course_period]["id"]);
    while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) { 
        $course[$course_period]["name"] = $row["course_name"];
    }
}

I know this is disgustingly inefficient and would like some help on revising it. I would just like to have the name pulled from other table where ID=?? (EX 1, 2, 6, and 320).

Is this the only way?

Answer 1

Try this:

$ids = array(1,2,3,4,5);

$query = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE id IN (" . implode(",", $ids) . ")";

//Process as usual...