[SOLVED] Array Logic Problem

[ballouta]

Hello, I am trying to read the first letter of all members in a table, then store them in an Array with duplications, but the problem is that the letters are stored duplicated when i print the array the end.

my code:

 

<?php
$ltr = array ('m'); //this is my username

$query = "SELECT *  FROM members ";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die (mysql_error());
while( $row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
$rest = substr("$row[usernme]", 0, 1); //this read the 1st letter of each username
//echo "Rest = $rest <br>"; this is working

	//check if this letter exists in the array, No duplications allowed
	foreach ($ltr as $show)
	{
		if ($show != $rest)
		{$ltr[] = $rest; echo "$rest added<br>";} //ballouta
		else {}
	}//foreach

}//end while

	foreach ($ltr as $show)
	{
	echo "$show /";
	}
?>

 

i added the echo line to check if if is entering to that scope, and it really show that it is adding it many times,

 

Please help

Many thanks

[Daniel0]

SELECT DISTINCT SUBSTRING(username, 1, 1) AS firstLetter FROM members;

[Garethp]

Why not store the first letter as the key of the array? That way, it can't make duplicates, like this kinda

 

$Array[$Firstetter] = 1;

foreach($Array as $k => $v)
{
echo $k . "<br>";
}

[MadTechie]

SELECT SUBSTRING(`UserName`,1,1) as letter FROM `users` GROUP BY letter
$result = mysql_query($query) or die (mysql_error());
  $letters = array();
   while( $row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
   {
     $letters[] = $row['letter']
   }

 

Edit: never mind lol

[ballouta]

Thank you ALL

ur code is working