What is the best way to insert multiple rows in PHP PDO MYSQL?

Question

Say, we have multiple rows to be inserted in a table:

$rows = [(1,2,3), (4,5,6), (7,8,9) ... ] //[ array of values ];

Using PDO:

Answer 1

I would do it the first way, prepare the statement with one row of parameter placeholders, and insert one row at a time with execute.

$stmt = $db->prepare($sql);

foreach($rows as $row){
    $stmt-> execute($row);
}

It's not quite as fast as doing multiple rows in a single insert, but it's close enough that you will probably never notice the difference.

And this has the advantage that it's very easy to work with the code. That's why you're using PHP anyway, for the developer efficiency, not the runtime efficiency.

If you have many rows (hundreds or thousands), and performance is a priority, you should consider using LOAD DATA INFILE.