Ваш точный запрошенный вывод усложняет задачу.
$sql = 'SELECT n.title, n.Group AS group_id, g.Category AS cat_id
FROM News AS n
JOIN Group AS g ON g.id = group_id
ORDER BY cat_id, group_id, n.id';
$result = mysql_query($query);
$categories = array();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$catID = $row['cat_id'];
$groupID = $row['group_id'];
$title = $row['title'];
$categories[$catID]['groups'][$groupID]['titles'][] = $title;
}
foreach ($categories as $catID => $groups) {
$catGroups = '-GROUP'.implode(', GROUP',array_keys($groups)).PHP_EOL;
$lastComma = strrpos($catGroups,',');
if ($lastComma !== false) {
$catGroups = substr($catGroups,0,$lastComma-1).
' AND ' .substr($catGroups,$lastComma+1);
}
echo $catGroups;
foreach ($groups as $groupID => $titles) {
echo "//GROUP$groupID (category$catID)".PHP_EOL;
foreach ($groups as $group => $titles) {
echo '--'.$title.PHP_EOL;
}
}
}
Если бы вам не понадобился такой причудливый вывод, это было бы намного проще.
$sql = 'SELECT n.title, n.Group AS group_id, g.Category AS cat_id
FROM News AS n
JOIN Group AS g ON g.id = group_id
ORDER BY cat_id, group_id, n.id';
$result = mysql_query($query);
$lastCatID = null;
$lastGroupID = null;
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$catID = $row['cat_id'];
$groupID = $row['group_id'];
$title = $row['title'];
if ($catID !== $lastCatID){
echo "*** CATEGORY $catID\n";
$lastCatID = $catID;
}
if ($groupID !== $lastGroupID){
echo "GROUP $groupID\n";
$lastGroupID = $groupID;
}
echo "-- $title\n";
}