Php insert/update multple row, using array and not a foreach - php

Question

I’m wondering if this is possible, I’ve search and haven’t found anything so about to give up.
I’m looking to do the following for example, note i do not want to use a foreach as that converts it into single queries.
$a = (1,2,3);
$b = ('john','Rob','Stuffs');
$c = ('doe','roe','soe');
$sql = "update ppl set firstname = $b, lastname = $c where id = $a";
The same can be said for an insert.
$sql = "insert into ppl (firstname,lastname) value ($b,$c)";
The main reason I'm looking to do this is to optimise the db a bit. There are a lot of single queries that (if this method is possible) could be converted into 1 single query.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

if (count($a) <= 0)
return; // nothing to do
$sql = "INSERT INTO table (id, firstname, lastname) VALUES";
while (count($a) > 0)
{
$id = array_shift($a);
$fname = array_shift($b);
$lname = array_shift($c);
$sql .= sprintf("('%s', '%s', '%s'),", mysql_real_escape_string($id), mysql_real_escape_string($fname), mysql_real_escape_string($lname));
}
$sql = substr($sql, 0, -1); //remove last comma
$sql .= " ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE firstname=VALUES(fname), lastname=VALUES(lname)";
//run your sql
this will allow you to run all of them at once.

Answer 2

For update you can do as follows
$a = (1,2,3);
$b = ('john','Rob','Stuffs');
$c = ('doe','roe','soe');
$i=0;
foreach($b as $fname){
if( !empty($b[$i]))
{
$sql = "update ppl set firstname = '".$b[$i]."', lastname = '".$c[$i]."' where id = $a[$i]";
}
$i++;
}
and for insert you can try
$i=0;
$var = '';
foreach($b as $fname){
if( !empty($b[$i]))
{
$var .= "(".$a[$i].",'".$c[$i]."','".$b[$i]."') ";
}
$i++;
}
if(!empty($var)){
$sql = "insert into ppl(id,firstname,lastname) values ".$var;
}