Grouping results under a heading

Rather than have the heading repeat

[abbeyvet]

This is probably obvious and simple - but it isn't to me :)

Set up>

table_items
-----------
item_id ¦ item_name ¦ item_describtion ¦ more item stuff.....

table_subitems
-----------------
subitem_id ¦ item_id ¦ subitem_name ¦ More subitem stuff

Each item can have zero to pretty much unlimited subitems, and are related by the fields item_id.

I want to print out the subitems grouped by item.

I am currently doing this with a query which selects subitems where table_items.item_id = table_subitems.item_id. Which is fine as far as it goes, I get something like this:

Item One - Subitem 0ne
Item One - Subitem two
Item One - Subitem three
Item Two - Subitem one
Item Three - Subitem one
Item Three - Subitem two

But I want

Item One
========
Subitem one
Subitem two
Subitem three

Item Two
========
Subitem one

Item Three
========
Subitem one
Subitem two

How do I do this? Is it a function of the query or of how I show the results?

Thanks

[mattclayb]

you could use an inner join in your sql eg -

SELECT * FROM table_subitems subt INNER JOIN table_items itemst ON (subt.item_id=itemst.item_id)

[idfer]

It's a function of how you show the results. You can do something like this:

$qh = mysql_query('select item_name, subitem_name  
 from table_items, table_subitems  
 where table_items.item_id = table_subitems.item_id  
 order by item_name 
'); 
if($qh === false) 
 die 'Mysql error: '.mysql_error(); 
$current_item_name = ''; 
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($qh)) { 
 if($row['item_name'] != $current_item_name) { 
 $current_item_name = $row['item_name']; 
 echo $current_item_name."\n=========\n\n"; 
 } 
 echo $row['subitem_name']."\n"; 
}