looping two seperate select statements

[OwenTheSamoan]

This is the script I am using. I know a more common way of doing this would be to make the select statement a join statement, but I find that it seems to run a bit smoother like this when I use two seperate select statements and loop them. Anyone have any ideas on how I can streamline this code without putting everything into one join select statement? Thanks in advance.

$sql_list=mysql_query("select distinct listee from hotlist where lister='$username'");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql_list)){
$listee= $row["listee"];

$sql_name=mysql_query("select distinct usernameOL from ppl_online where usernameOL='$listee'");

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql_name)){
$usernameOL= $row["usernameOL"];

echo "$usernameOL.'<br>'

}
}

[Weedpacket]

Select distinct usernameOL from ppl_online where usernameOL in (Select listee from hotlist where lister='$username')

But I wonder why the join isn't more effective.

[OwenTheSamoan]

Thanks, I'll give this a try. When I use the join things seem to go a bit slower perhaps because I am using extremely large tables?