A question regarding SQL

[lambada]

HI,
ON my site I have a links database with the Unique ID, Name, URL and Category.

Now, short of adding another table and 'mapping the categorys with numerical counterparts, is there any way to grab the categorys from that table but only if they are uniquie - this is for a dropdown category selector you see.

--------------------------
ID | Category |
1 | Friend |
2 | Humour |
3 | Humour |
4 | Friend |

etcetera
So if I do an SQL SELECT category FROM links ORDER BY Category. It would get all of the categorys even if they have been repeated, so using a loop code the searchbox would endup as Select: Friend, Friend, Humour, Humour, Humour. The categories would be listed multiple times.

Is there anyway around this short of getting a new table and linking via cat_id which I could do, but not really what I want.

[theblazingangel]

SELECT DISTINCT category FROM links ORDER BY Category ASC

[lambada]

Thanks that worked great - My php/mysql book didn't mention distinct atall!