在不同的标题下按字母顺序对mysql表中的数据进行排序

Question

I'm trying to sort a list of names with allocated links coming from mysql table.
Would like it to look something like this in html:

    <h3>A</h3>
    <ul>
       <li>Andrea</li>
       <li>Arron</li>
    </ul>

So far I was able to list letters and names in alphabetical order, but I don't know how to make a loop that would list all names starting with 'A' under heading 'A' etc.

    <?php

    $connection = mysqli_connect('localhost', 'root', '', 'database');

    $query = "SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY name";
    $result = $connection->query($query);

    $azRange = range('A', 'Z');

    foreach ($azRange as $letter){
        echo "<h3>" . $letter . "</h3>";
    }

    echo "<ul>";

    while($row = $result->fetch_array()){
        echo "<li><a href=\"" . $row['link'] . "\">" . $row['name'] . "</a></li>";
    }

    echo "</ul>";

    ?>

Thank you.

Answer 1

You need to check first letter of every $row['name'] and control the change of this letter. So, if first letter was 'A' for several rows, and then it has changed to 'B' - this means that you need to echo this new letter (B).

echo "<ul>";
// init first letter with an empty value
$first_letter = "";

while($row = $result->fetch_array()){
    // get first letter of current name
    $first_letter_of_name = substr($row['name'], 0, 1);
    if ($first_letter_of_name != $first_letter) {
        // first letters differ, this 
        // means that new letter is here

        // Echo this new letter
        echo '<li>Letter: <b>' . $first_letter . '</b></li>'
        // Change flag's value
        $first_letter = $first_letter_of_name;
    }
    echo "<li><a href=\"" . $row['link'] . "\">" . $row['name'] . "</a></li>";
}

echo "</ul>";