MySQLi speed: multiple queries or one

Question

I want to get data from a database which looks like this:

id - brand - type
1    Airbus  plane
2    Boeing  plane
3    Fokker  plane
4    Toyota  car
5    Mustang car
6    Peugeot car
7    Sparta  bike

Now I want to e.g. output an <hr/> whenever the type is different. I can do this two ways:

• One prepared statement and set a variable $current_type and check its value with the one from the database
• Three prepared statements (for each type since they don't differ from plane, car, bike)

Which is the fastest? I would say the first but the second makes my code look so much better. Can I neglect the speed difference?

Answer 1

The first one is definitely faster, I'd much rather have an extra temporary variable in my PHP code than 2 extra queries. The difference might be neglegible in your case, but it isn't be something I would give up for slightly neater code.