code:
$persons = array(); $tags = array(); while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result, MYSQLI_ASSOC)) { if(!isset($persons[$row["id"]])) { $persons[$row["id"]]= $row; $tags[ $row['id'] ] = array(); } $tags[ $row['id'] ][] = $row['tag']; } foreach($persons as $pid=>$p){ $tag1 = $p["tag"]; $tag1ish = $tags[$p['id']]; } 
foreach($persons as $pid=>$p){ $tag1 = $p["tag"]; $tag1ish = $tags[$p['id']]; /* to get the first tag, there are many options e.g.: */ $first_tag = $tag1ish[0]; // given u use [] syntax as above. } I think the clarification didn't help much :P Anyway, I'd reccomend to order the tags by ID then (or at least alphabetically). So the order of the tags will be the same and accessing the first element of the array would return always the same tag.
You could avoid calling a foreach and just use the first element
$tag1 = $persons[0]["tag"]; or use current:
$tag1 = current($persons); 
if i understand well, you can use the reset() function. It received an array as argument and returns the first element.
Set the internal pointer of an array to its first element
foreach($persons as $pid=>$p){ // is this what you mean..? $theTagYouWant = $tags[0]; $tag1 = $p["tag"]; $tag1ish = $tags[$p['id']]; } 