The Internet Super Hero blog points out a new MySQL function for PHP (included with the new MySQL native drivers) that automatically does what countless sites currently do with a loop - grab all of the results from a database query and stuff them into a single array.

Here is excellent news for you. mysqli_fetch_all(), which comes with mysqlnd, does the task of fetching the data sometimes twice as fast as mysqli_fetch_array(). Reason being: it saves a loop with function calls…

The mysqli_fetch_all function allows you to reduce not only code clutter caused by the loops, but also speeds up the process (by 60% according to his findings). This is based on his current setup, though - under different circumstances (and OSes) there were varying results, but none too much off of the 60% mark. The lowest came in at around a 54% increase.

Check out the entire post on more about this handy function and the full details of the "behind the scenes" of how it works.