while(array_shift()) can be used to process multiple arrays and/or database results in a single loop. The || short circuts and only evaluates the first statement until it runs out of data.
It can help to reduce duplicated code (the rule is code once and once only).
Note that each ($row = ) statement much be encased in ()'s otherwise you will get funny results. If you use two array_shift($array) statements and forget the ()'s, you will repeatedly get the first element of the first array for the for the count of the $array.
<?php
require_once('class.db.php');
$sql = "SELECT title FROM links";
$result = mysql_query($sql, $db->connection);
$defaults = array(
array('title' => 'None'),
array('title' => 'Unknown')
);
while ( ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
|| ($row = array_shift($defaults)))
{
echo $row['title'] . "<br>";
}
?>
This will print out (depending on database contents):
Title1
Title2
Title3
...
None
Unknown
