Remove Duplicates in while loop PHP - php

Question

I'm trying to remove duplicate results from my SQL query using PHP.
table categories:
id | name
1 | sony
2 | nintendo
table subcategories:
id | name | category_id
1 | playstation | 1
2 | playstation2 | 1
3 | wii | 2
table video_games
id | name | subcategories
1 | grand theft auto | 1,2
2 | super mario | 3
My PHP code:
$query = $database->query('SELECT id FROM subcategories WHERE category_id = "'.$_GET['id'].'"');
while($return = $query->fetch()) {
$subcategories = $return['id'];
$request = '%'.$subcategories.'%';
$game_query = $database->prepare('SELECT * FROM video_games WHERE subcategories LIKE :request');
$game_query->bindValue('request', $request);
$game_query->execute();
if($game_query->rowCount() > 0) {
while($game_return = $game_query->fetch()) {
echo $game_return['name'];
}
}
}
My code works but I have duplicate video games when there have multi subcategories.
I tried using SELECT DISTINCT * FROM video_games WHERE subcategories LIKE :request but same problem.
Any idea to remove duplicate results using SQL or PHP ?

Answer 1

MySql is able to solve this problem by its own means.
Use 'DISTINCT' and 'FIND_IN_SET'.
Like this:
"SELECT DISTINCT
vg.id,
vg.name,
vg.subcategories
FROM
video_games vg
WHERE
FIND_IN_SET( (SELECT id FROM subcategories WHERE category_id='".$_GET['id'])."' , vg.subcategories ) > 0 "

Answer 2

and also you can use array_unique at first save video game names in an array and next remove duplicate value.
.
.
.
your code
.
.
$game_query->execute();
if($game_query->rowCount() > 0) {
$fetch =array_unique($game_query->fetch());
foreach ($fetch as $key => $value){
echo $value;
}
}
test
<pre>
<?php
$arr=array("name"=>"1","name2"=>"2","name1"=>"2","name3"=>"3","name4"=>"1","name5"=>"2","name6"=>"3","name7"=>"22");
print_r($arr);
$fetch =array_unique($arr);
print_r($fetch);
foreach ($fetch as $key => $value)
echo $key."=>".$value."<br>";
?>
</pre>

Answer 3

You can save video game names in an array, and print it afterwards. For example:
$games = array();
$query = $database->query('SELECT id FROM subcategories WHERE category_id = "'.$_GET['id'].'"');
while($return = $query->fetch()) {
$subcategories = $return['id'];
$request = '%'.$subcategories.'%';
$game_query = $database->prepare('SELECT * FROM video_games WHERE subcategories LIKE :request');
$game_query->bindValue('request', $request);
$game_query->execute();
if($game_query->rowCount() > 0) {
while($game_return = $game_query->fetch()) {
if (!in_array($game_return['name'], $games)) {
$games[] = $game_return['name'];
}
}
}
}
//now print the games
foreach ($games as $game) {
echo $game;
}
EDIT If you want more than just 'name', you can expand $games array with $key => $value combination. For example:
. . .
while($game_return = $game_query->fetch()) {
foreach ($games as $game) {
if ($game['name'] === $game_return['name']]) {
continue 2;
}
}
$games[] = array(
'name' => $game_return['name'],
'price' => $game_return['price'],
)
}
And afterwards print it like:
foreach ($games as $game) {
echo $game['name'];
echo $game['price'];
}