The mysqli_fetch_array() function in PHP is used to fetch a result row as an associative, a numeric array, or both from a MySQLi query result.

Syntax

mysqli_fetch_array(result, resulttype)

• result: Required. The mysqli_result object from a mysqli_query().
• resulttype: Optional. Specifies what kind of array to return:
  • MYSQLI_ASSOC – Associative array (column names as keys)
  • MYSQLI_NUM – Numeric array (column numbers as keys)
  • MYSQLI_BOTH (default) – Both associative and numeric

✅ Example with MYSQLI_BOTH (Default)

<?php
$conn = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "", "test_db");

$result = mysqli_query($conn, "SELECT id, name FROM users");

while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
    echo $row[0] . " - " . $row['name'] . "<br>";
}
?>

Output:

1 - John
2 - Alice
3 - Bob

In the above:

• $row[0] uses numeric index (id)
• $row['name'] uses associative index

✅ Example with MYSQLI_ASSOC

while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result, MYSQLI_ASSOC)) {
    echo $row['id'] . " - " . $row['name'] . "<br>";
}

Here, only associative keys are used. $row[0] would throw an error.

✅ Example with MYSQLI_NUM

while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result, MYSQLI_NUM)) {
    echo $row[0] . " - " . $row[1] . "<br>";
}

Here, only numeric indexes are used. $row['name'] would throw an error.

⚠️ Important Notes:

• mysqli_fetch_array() returns false when there are no more rows.
• If using MYSQLI_BOTH, each field is available in two ways (by name and by number), which can use more memory.