MySQL Group Results by Field Data: SQL vs PHP Approaches

In the realm of data management, scenarios may arise where you need to group database results by field data and display them in a specific format. Consider the following examples:

Example 1:
Organize a list of names based on group ID:

Example 2:
Pair corresponding titles and coefficient values based on a common group ID:

To address these challenges, two main approaches emerge: SQL and PHP.

SQL Approach
For simple grouping tasks, SQL provides built-in functions. In the first example, you can use GROUP_CONCAT() to combine names within each group, as seen below:

SELECT
  `Group`,
  GROUP_CONCAT(`Name`) AS `names`
FROM YOUR_TABLE
GROUP BY `Group`

PHP Approach
For more complex scenarios, PHP offers greater flexibility. Consider the second example, where you must pair titles and coefficients:

// Establish connection
$dbc = new MySQLI(...);

// Execute query
$result = $dbc->query("
  SELECT
    p.`Group` AS `group`,
    a.`title`,
    b.`meta_value` AS `coef`
  FROM prueba AS p
  INNER JOIN table_a AS a
    ON p.`meta_value` = a.`id`
  LEFT JOIN table_b AS b
    ON p.`meta_value` = b.`id`
  GROUP BY p.`Group`
");

// Display in HTML table
echo '';