Question

i have a data (in tabular form) that look like as follows

1 2 3

     4     

5 0 6

8

This table contains three column and four rows and 12 cells.but all cells do not have value.i have stored data in this table to a database entering zero in the place of empty cells. but it result in the wastage of lot of space in database. I need to enter only non-zero values to my database and must be shown as the above table when retrieved.

Answer 1

This seems pretty simple:

Store the row and column values in their own separate columns, along with a value column that holds the cell value.

You’ll never enter non-zero or blank database values.

When you retrieve the values, populate them into a multidimensional array:

$table[ $row['row'] ][ $row['col'] ] = $row['value'];