PHP MySQL display multiple rows grouped by common fields -

i'm trying figure out how list company 's category 's , brand 's, layout similar this:

company 1

• category 1:
  brand x
  brand y
  brand z

• category 2
  brand a
  brand b
  brand c

• category 3
  brand a
  brand x

i'm not familiar enough php + mysql find right search , php output in order achieve this.

my table looks similar this:

 company   | category   | brand     -------------------------------- company 1 | category 2 | brand   company 1 | category 2 | brand b   company 1 | category 2 | brand c   company 1 | category 1 | brand x   company 1 | category 1 | brand y   company 1 | category 1 | brand z   company 1 | category 3 | brand   company 1 | category 3 | brand x   

<?php $result = mysql_query("   select     *       some_table   order     company,     category,     brand ")  or trigger_error('query failed in '. __file__ .    ' on line '. __line__ .'. '. mysql_error(), e_user_error); if (mysql_num_rows($result)) {   $companies = array();   while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {     $companies[$row['company']][$row['category']][] = $row['brand'];   }    foreach ($companies $company => $categories) {     echo '<h2>'. htmlentities($company, ent_compat, 'utf-8') .'</h2>';     echo '<ul>';     foreach ($categories $category => $brands) {       echo '<li>'. htmlentities($category, ent_compat, 'utf-8');       foreach ($brands $brand) {         echo '<br><em>'. htmlentities($brand, ent_compat, 'utf-8') .'</em>';       }       echo '<br>&nbsp;</li>';     }     echo '</ul>';   } } 

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