alphabetising table data using arrays / if statements - php

Question

I have some data that I'm looping through and alphabetizing using if statements. My code works but the problem is it seems like a very "long way around". I'd like to know if there's another approach that I'm missing that could make this much easier.
Here's my PHP:
// MY QUERY
$query1 = "SELECT `categoryid`, `categoryname`
FROM `my_table_category`
ORDER BY `my_table_category`.`categoryname` ASC";
$browse = mysql_query($query1) or die(mysql_error());
$browse_rows = array();
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($browse)){
$browse_rows[] = $row;
}
// HERE MY ARRAYS FOR THE ALPHABET
$list_a = array(); $list_b = array(); $list_c = array();
$list_d = array(); $list_e = array(); $list_f = array();
$list_g = array(); $list_h = array(); $list_i = array();
// etc...
// HERE IS WHERE I'M GRABBING THE CATEGORY NAMES BY THEIR FIRST LETTER
// AND ADDING THEM TO AN ARRAY
foreach($browse_rows as $row){
if($row['categoryname'][0] == 'A'){
$list_a[] = $row['categoryname'];
}elseif($row['categoryname'][0] == 'B'){
$list_b[] = $row['categoryname'];
}elseif($row['categoryname'][0] == 'C'){
$list_c[] = $row['categoryname'];
}elseif($row['categoryname'][0] == 'D'){
$list_d[] = $row['categoryname'];
}
} //etc...
Here is my HTML:
<!-- HERE IS HOW I DISPLAY MY DATA -->
<div id="topics_a">
<h2>A</h2>
<ul class="browse_list">
<?
foreach($list_a as $name){
if ($holdcat <> $name) {
$holdcat = $name; ?>
<li><a href="index.php?state="<? echo $template->State."#".$browse_row['categoryid'];?>><? echo $name; ?></a></li>
<? }} ?>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="topics_b">
<h2>B</h2>
<ul class="browse_list">
<?
foreach($list_b as $name){
if ($holdcat <> $name) {
$holdcat = $name; ?>
<li><a href="index.php?state="<? echo $template->State."#".$browse_row2['categoryid'];?>><? echo $name; ?></a></li>
<? }} ?>
</ul>
</div>
//etc...
Updated after the answer:
//UPDATED PHP
foreach ($browse_rows as $row) {
$initial = $row['categoryname'][0];
$lists[$initial][] = $row['categoryname'];
}
//UPDATED HTML
<? foreach ($lists as $letter => $list){ ?>
<div>
<h2><? echo $letter; ?></h2>
<ul class="browse_list">
<?
$list = array_unique($list);
foreach ($list as $cat) {
?>
<li><? echo $cat; ?></li>
<? } ?>
</ul>
</div>
<? } ?>
Output:
http://d.pr/i/bt68

Answer 1

Use a multidimensional array, not separate arrays for each letter.
$lists = array();
foreach ($browse_list as $row) {
$initial = $row['categoryname'][0];
if (!isset($row[$initial])) {
$lists[$initial] = array();
}
$lists[$initial][] = $row['categoryname'];
}
Then when you want to display it, sort the array by the keys, then use nested loops:
ksort($lists);
foreach ($lists as $list) {
echo '<ul class="browse_list">';
$list = array_unique($list); // get rid of duplicates
foreach ($list as $cat) {
echo '<li>' . $cat . '</li>';
}
echo '</ul>';
}