Demonstration

Here's an example of how to display MySQL 9 random database records in 3 Bootstrap columns.

Take On Me
A-Ha (1985)

Daddy Cool
Boney M (1976)

One Night in Bangkok
Murray Head (1985)

The Ketchup Song
Las Ketchup (2002)

Yes Sir, I Can Boogie
Baccara (1977)

Rhythm is a Dancer
Snap (1992)

Big Big World
Emilia (1998)

All That She Wants
Ace of Base (1993)

Can't Get You Out of My Head
Kylie Minogue (2001)

PHP

<?php
  // Database connection
  $conn = new mysqli ("server", "user", "password", "database");
  mysqli_set_charset ($conn, "utf8");

if ($conn->connect_error) {
  die("Error: " . $conn->connect_error);
  }

// Fetch records
  $sql = "SELECT * FROM top_songs_eu ORDER BY song ASC LIMIT 9";
  $result = $conn->query($sql);

// Store records in an array
  $songs = [];
  if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
  while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
  $songs[] = "<div class='song-item'><strong>{$row['song']}</strong><br>{$row['artist']} ({$row['year']})</div>";
  }
  } else {
  echo "<p>No records found</p>";
  }

// Split into 3 columns
  $songs_list = array_chunk($songs, ceil(count($songs) / 3));

// Display in Bootstrap grid
  foreach ($songs_list as $column) {
  echo '<div class="col-md-4">';
  foreach ($column as $song) {
  echo "<div>$song</div>";
  }
  echo '</div>';
  }

$conn->close();
  ?>

Explanation of the Code

This PHP script connects to a MySQL database, fetches the top 9 songs from the top_songs_eu table, and displays them in three Bootstrap columns.

Database Connection

<?php
  // Database connection
  $conn = new mysqli ("server", "user", "password", "database");
  mysqli_set_charset ($conn, "utf8");

if ($conn->connect_error) {
  die("Error: " . $conn->connect_error);
  }

What the code above ↑ does:

Establishes a MySQL database connection using new mysqli().
Sets the character encoding to UTF-8 to support special characters.
Checks for connection errors and stops execution (die()) if an error occurs.

Fetching Records from the Database

$sql = "SELECT * FROM top_songs_eu ORDER BY song ASC LIMIT 9";
  $result = $conn->query($sql);

What the code above ↑ does:

Selects all columns (*) from the top_songs_eu table.
Orders results alphabetically by the song column (ORDER BY song ASC).
Limits the results to 9 records (LIMIT 9).
Runs the query using $conn->query($sql) and stores the result in $result.

Storing Records in an Array

$songs = [];
if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
  while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
  $songs[] = "<div class='song-item'><strong>{$row['song']}</strong><br>{$row['artist']} ({$row['year']})</div>";
  }
  } else {
  echo "<p>No records found</p>";
}

What the code above ↑ does:

Checks if records exist ($result->num_rows > 0).
Loops through the results using while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()).
Formats each record into an HTML <div> and stores it in the $songs array.
If no records are found, it displays "No records found".

Splitting Songs into 3 Columns

$songs_list = array_chunk($songs, ceil(count($songs) / 3));

What the code above ↑ does:

Divides $songs into 3 groups using array_chunk().
Uses ceil(count($songs) / 3) to evenly distribute songs across three columns.

Displaying Songs in Bootstrap Columns

foreach ($songs_list as $column) {
  echo '<div class="col-md-4">';
  foreach ($column as $song) {
  echo "<div>$song</div>";
  }
  echo '</div>';
  }

What the code above ↑ does:

Loops through each column in $songs_list.
Wraps each column in <div class="col-md-4">, creating three equal columns.
Loops through each song inside the column and displays it.

Comma after each value, except the last one Display records Display records in a Bootstrap Table Display records in columns Display records with Bootstrap pagination Display records with CSS styles Escape special characters in a string Highlight the search term in results Replace unicode characters by utf-8 Search autocomplete with Typeahead Search records by an option Select rows for the current day and month Short commands