Question

I’m querying a database for names that are numbered 1-26 alphabetically. I have the following code, but since HTML is structured tr then td, the table appears alphabetically by row as opposed to by column. How can I make it appear in order by column?

$query = mysql_query("SELECT name FROM people WHERE main=1 ORDER BY id");
$i = 0;
while($result = mysql_fetch_array($query)) {
    $name = $result['name'];
    if ($i % 5 == 0) echo "<tr>\n";
    echo "<td width=\"150\">";
    echo "<a href=\"#".strtolower($name)."\">".$name."</a><br />";
    echo "</td>\n";
    $i++;
    if ($i % 5 == 0) echo "</tr>\n";
};

alpha beta charlie
delta echo foxtrot

vs.

alpha charlie echo
beta delta foxtrot

Also, I’m open to reworking the code if there’s a more efficient way.

Answer 1

Edit:

After the discussion in the comments between myself, Kerrek SB and the OP bswinnerton, the following code seems to be the most effective:

$columns = 3;
$rowcount = mysql_num_rows($query);
$rows = ceil($rowcount / $columns);
$rowdata = array_fill(0, $rows, "");
$ctr = 0;
while ($result = mysql_fetch_array($query))
    $rowdata[$ctr++ % $rows] .= '<td>'.$result['name'].'</td>';
echo '<tr>'.implode('</tr><tr>',$rowdata).'</tr>';

This will create three columns, filled vertically (my original answer would create three rows). It also properly initializes the array (preventing PHP warnings), yields a correct row count for result counts that aren’t divisible by the column count, and incorporates Kerrek’s clever “calc-row-in-the-subscript” trick.

Original Post:

You could use arrays and implode() This way, you only have to make one pass through your results:

$row = 0;
$rows = 3;
$rowdata = array();
while($result = mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
   if ($row >= $rows) $row = 0;
   $rowdata[$row++] .= '<td>'.$result['name'].'</td>';
}

echo '<tr>'.implode('</tr><tr>',$rowdata).'</tr>';