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up vote 0 down vote favorite 
foreach ($topicarray as $key=>$value){
    $files = mysql_query("mysqlquery");

    while($file = mysql_fetch_array($files)){ extract($file);
        $topicarray[$value] = array( array($id=>$title)
                      );
       }
    }

The first foreach loop is providing me with an array of unique values which forms a 1-dimensional array.

The while loop is intended to store another array of values inside the 1-dimensional array.

When the while loop returns to the beginning, it is overwriting it. So I only ever get the last returned set of values in the array.

My array ends up being a two dimensional array with only one value in each of the inner arrays.

Feels like I'm missing something very basic here - like a function or syntax which prevents the array from overwriting itself but instead, adds to the array.

Any ideas?

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2 Answers 2

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Step 1. Replace $topicarray[$value] with $topicarray[$value][]
Step 2. ???
Step 3. Profit

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Can't believe I didn't try that. I think I got lost in the array, forgetting the fundamentals of how to start an array! –  chocolatecoco Jun 20 '12 at 22:26
up vote 2 down vote

Make $topicarray[$value] an array of rows, instead of one row. Also, don't use extract here.

foreach ($topicarray as $key => $value) {
    $rows = array();
    $files = mysql_query("mysqlquery");

    while($file = mysql_fetch_array($files)) {
        $rows[] = array($file['id'] => $file['title']);
    }

    $topicarray[$value] = $rows;
}

Also, you should switch to PDO or MySQLi.

share|improve this answer
    
Thanks for this, this works too! –  chocolatecoco Jun 20 '12 at 22:28
    
Any particular reason not to use extract()? –  chocolatecoco Jun 20 '12 at 22:29
    
@chocolatecoco: It could overwrite random variables in your code if you add columns to the query/table later on, and it's just not as obvious or as efficient as accessing them through array indices. –  minitech♦ Jun 20 '12 at 22:33

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