recursive funciton for categories and sub categories?

Hello.
I have some code which i created that will get a list of all the main categories and then all the sub categories.
The data is sorted in an array and the sub categories are stored in an array in the original array.
let me show you


function getparent($parent)
{
$tmp = Array();
$getparent = "SELECT * FROM static_pages WHERE page_parent = $parent";
$parentquery = mysql_query($getparent) or die(mysql_error());

while($pageresult = mysql_fetch_array($parentquery))
{
array_push($tmp, $pageresult["page_id"]);

$tmp2 = getparent($pageresult["page_id"]);
if(count($tmp2) > 0)
{
array_push($tmp, $tmp2);
}
}
return $tmp;
}

print "<pre>";
print_r(getparent(0));
print "</pre>";


any it produces a array like this

Array
(
[0] => 1
[1] => 2
[2] => Array
(
[0] => 3
[1] => Array
(
[0] => 4
)

)

[3] => 5
[4] => 6
[5] => Array
(
[0] => 7
[1] => Array
(
[0] => 8
[1] => Array
(
[0] => 9
)

)

[2] => 10
)

)


Basically i can't see an easy way to navigate to page_id 9. I could go to key-5 and check to see if it an array. if it is then step into it and carry on until i find 9.

Does anyone know and easier way to find the sub pages (there could be any number of sub sub pages. and also do you know an easier way to store the data.

Cheers

MRMAN

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/hierarchical-data-database/2

may be a useful starting point for you.

Thank you very much