OK, I've slept on it, the SELECT definitely doesn't guarantee to give you the parents before the children

So, that doesn't matter if you do the autoviv correct:

my $sth = $dbh->prepare("SELECT category_id, category_name, main_categ
+ory FROM test");
$sth->execute();
$sth->bind_columns(\my($category_id, $category_name, $main_category));
my @cats;
while ($sth->fetch) {
  $cats[$category_id][0] = $category_name;
  push @{$cats[$main_category][1]}, $category_id;
}
[download]

Autoviv is cool, when used properly.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.