I've always wondered about this, because it comes up often. In a script, I assign a result set to $result. Then I use $result to do something, then I need to run another query. Can I use $result again? Can I keep reusing it? Do I have to empty it first?

What I currently do is assign results to $result, then $result1, $result2, $result3, or sometimes $result_descriptivewordhere. But I don't really want to do this if it's not necessary.

Nothing critical, just something I've been wondering about.

You can absolutely use it again. Like any variable, it can be reassigned a different value -- in this case, a result set from a database query.

It's also worth noting that if your query is returning a very large result set, you should use mysql_free_result() to free the result set from memory. If the set is small, it shouldn't be a bother -- it will be cleaned at the end of the script's execution.

Thanks!

As long as the queries are sequential, you can re-use the variable as much as you want. Watch out for nested loops though - say you loop over $result, and then re-use it inside the loop. That will overwrite the old value, which you still need for the loop. In that case, you would need to use $result2 for the inner query. Once the loop finished you can reuse both again. I've done this myself and it's a tough one to spot.