efficient selecting and display of multiple tables

[Kefka]

I've got a MySQL database which has 3 tables - category, section and subsection.

There are two categories, which each have 3 sections, which each have 3 subsections.

The section table contains a section id, and a category id, which links it to its category.

The subsection table has a subsection id and a section id, which links it to its section.

(all categories, sections and subsections also have names).

I need to make a menu appear on my website in the following format... (only one category, and hence half the sections and subsections, can be displayed at once)

Category 1
Section 1
Subsection 1
Subsection 2
Subsection 3
Section 2
Subsection 4
Subsection 5
Subsection 6
Section 3
Subsection 7
Subsection 8
Subsection 9

Is there a way to get all this information with only one select statement and display it as desired using some fancy php looping?

Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks
Kefka

[trex005]

$sql = "
	SELECT
	catigories.catigory_id,
	sections.section_id,
	subsection.subsection_id,
	catigories.catigory_name,
	sections.section_name,
	subsections.subsection_name
	FROM
	catigories
	LEFT OUTER JOIN sections ON (catigories.catigory_id = sections.catigory_id)
	LEFT OUTER JOIN subsections ON (section.section_id = subsections.section_id)
	ORDER BY catigory_id, section_id, subsection_id
";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
	if($row['catigory_id'] != $last_catigory_id)
	{
		echo $row['catigory_name'],"<BR>";
		$last_catigory_id = $row['catigory_id'];
		$just_changed_catigories = 1;
	}
	else
	{
		$just_changed_catigories = 0;
	}
	if($row['section_id'] != $last_section_id || $just_changed_catigories)
	{
		echo "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;",$row['section_name'],"<BR>";
		$last_section_id = $row['section_id'];
	}
	echo "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;",$row['subsection_name'],"<BR>";
}

a quick mockup with me knowing really nothing about your database... but hopefully you get the idea