selecting distinct from a mysql

[jpr]

mysql_query("SELECT id,category FROM publications_hilites WHERE category='$this_category'");

However there are several rows of the same category, I want to only select one row for each category, i think is something to do with selecting by distinct. Thanx for your help!

Jason Rottman

[mjlively]

Try this:

mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT id,category FROM publications_hilites WHERE category='$this_category'");

Just through the DISTINCT immediatly after SELECT in any select statement and it will ensure that all rows returned are unique

[mjlively]

I'm sorry, slight error in my post

You will not be able to get unique categorys if you select the id field in the table as well. If you don't need the id field, I would recommend the following

mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT category FROM publications_hilites WHERE category='$this_category'");

If you are just looking for the id of one of the items in a particular category you could just add a LIMIT 0, 1 to the end of the query.

It's a hard question to answer exactly since I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish

[jpr]

thanx, this should work. Each row has a category, there are several different categorys. I just want to find out what categorys there are. Thanx!

[jpr]

that worked 🙂