PHP how to find same values in column - php

Question

Hi i'm quite newbie in php language and i need to find same values in DESCRIPTION column in my database table.
id-------DESCRIPTION
1-------Final
2-------Exam
3-------Test
4-------Test
5-------Mid
6-------Quiz
7-------Quiz
As output it needs to be like:
Final
Exam
Test
Test
Mid
Quiz
Quiz
If a value repating just change them style is enough but i'm really don't know how to do it.
<?php
$check = mysqli_query($connection,"SELECT * FROM EXAMS");
while($test=mysqli_fetch_array($check))
{
echo $test["DESCRIPTION"];
}
?>

Answer 1

Use an EXISTS subquery to look if the same value exists for another id:
$result = $connection->query("
SELECT e.id, e.DESCRIPTION, EXISTS(
SELECT *
FROM EXAMS e2
WHERE e2.DESCRIPTION = e.DESCRIPTION
AND e2.id <> e.id
) as is_duplicate
FROM EXAMS e
ORDER BY e.id
");
Then check in PHP if it is a duplicate (if ($row['is_duplicate'] == 1)) and mark it bold:
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc())
{
if ($row['is_duplicate'] == 1) {
echo "<strong>$row['DESCRIPTION']</strong><br>";
} else {
echo "$row['DESCRIPTION']<br>";
}
}
PHP solution
$result = $connection->query("SELECT * FROM EXAMS");
$data = $result->fetch_all(MYSQLI_ASSOC);
$counts = array_count_values(array_column($data, 'DESCRIPTION'));
foreach($data as $row)
{
if ($counts[$row['DESCRIPTION']] > 1) {
echo "<strong>$row['DESCRIPTION']</strong><br>";
} else {
echo "$row['DESCRIPTION']<br>";
}
}