insert multiple rows into database from arrays - php

Question

i need some help with inserting multiple rows from different arrays into my database.
I am making the database for a seating plan, for each seating block there is 5 rows (A-E) with each row having 15 seats.
my DB rows are seat_id, seat_block, seat_row, seat_number, therefore i need to add 15 seat_numbers for each seat_row and 5 seat_rows for each seat_block.
I mocked it up with some foreach loops but need some help turning it into an (hopefully single) SQL statement.
$blocks = array("A","B","C","D");
$seat_rows = array("A","B","C","D","E");
$seat_nums = array("1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","10","11","12","13","14","15");
foreach($blocks as $block){
echo "<br><br>";
echo "Block: " . $block . " - ";
foreach($seat_rows as $rows){
echo "Row: " . $rows . ", ";
foreach($seat_nums as $seats){
echo "seat:" . $seats . " ";
}
}
}
Maybe there's a better way of doing it instead of using arrays?
i just want to avoid writing an SQL statement that is over 100 lines long ;)
(im using codeigniter too if anyone knows of a CI specific way of doing it but im not too bothered about that)

Answer 1

try
<?php
$blocks = array("A","B","C","D");
$seat_rows = array("A","B","C","D","E");
$seat_nums = array("1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","10","11","12","13","14","15");
foreach($blocks as $block){
foreach($seat_rows as $rows){
foreach($seat_nums as $seats){
$querys[] = "('" . $block "','" . $rows . "', '" . $seats . "' )";
}
}
}
$query_inserts = join ( ", ", $querys );
$query = "
INSERT INTO
table
( block, rows, seats )
VALUES
" . $query_inserts . "
";
mysql_query ($query);
?>

Answer 2

One solution is to use prepared statements:
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:dbname=mydb', 'myuser', 'mypass');
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('INSERT INTO seats
(seat_id, seat_block, seat_row, seat_number)
VALUES (?,?,?,?);
');
foreach (...) {
$stmt->execute(array($seat_id, $seat_block, $seat_row, $seat_number));
}