, SQL . :
foreach ($db->query('SELECT * FROM categories') as $cat)
{
foreach ($db->query('SELECT * FROM items WHERE cat_id = ' . $cat['cat_id']) as $item)
{
}
}
:
$sql = 'SELECT c.*, i.*
FROM categoriess c
LEFT JOIN items i USING (cat_id)
ORDER BY c.cat_order';
foreach ($db->query($sql) as $row)
{
}