[Resolved] unique results in a while loop?

[sgtpepper]

Hi,

I have the following code in place:

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) // this will grab the results from query 
{
$listcat .= "<option value=\"$row[lister_agent_name]\">$row[lister_agent_name]</option>";
}

Obviously, this is going to populate a pull down....my problem is the the results from $row[lister_agent_name] are not unique...as it is a listing of names....and some of the names are duplicates. How can I just get unique results for $row[lister_agent_name]? Do I have to alter the query?

SELECT lister_agent_name from mastertable where lister_office_name = '$client_name';

Do I have the tell the query to get only unique results....how should the query be structured?

[TheDefender]

Add a GROUP BY clause to your SQL statement...

SELECT lister_agent_name from mastertable where lister_office_name = '$client_name' GROUP BY lister_agent_name;

[sgtpepper]

Perfect! Works like a charm...thank you!

[TheDefender]

You're welcome... Just remember, this can't account for name misspellings... John Smith and Jon Smith for example, may be the same person, but will show up twice...

The other drawback is... say you have 2 John Smith's with the same exact name... This will exclude the first one and group by the second one, and only show one John Smith...

You should use some unique identifier like SSN or something like that, if there is a chance that you will have 2 people with the same exact name...