Результат SQL запроса в переменную

$query = "SELECT * FROM category WHERE active =1";
$sql = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
         while ($res = mysql_fetch_array($sql)) 
 {
 
  $category = '<li><a href="'.$res['uri'].'" target="_blank">'.$res['name'].'</a></li>';
      }

$category=array();
$query = "SELECT * FROM category WHERE active =1";
$sql = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
while ($res = mysql_fetch_array($sql)) 
{
    $category[] = $res;
}

function get_category()
{
$query = "SELECT * FROM category WHERE active =1";
$sql = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
         while ($res = mysql_fetch_array($sql)) 
 {
 
  $category[$count] = $res;
  $count++; 
 
      }
 
return $category;
}

<?$link=get_category();
foreach($link as $item):?>
<li><a href="<?=$item['ссыло'];?>" target="_blank"><?=$item['название'];?></a></li>
<?endforeach;?>

$category=array();
$query = "SELECT * FROM category WHERE active =1";
$sql = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
while ($res = mysql_fetch_row($sql)) 
{
    $category[] = '<li><a href="'.$res[2].'" target="_blank">'.$res[1].'</a></li>';
}

<?
function get_category()
{
$query = "SELECT * FROM category WHERE active =1";
$sql = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
         while ($res = mysql_fetch_array($sql)) 
 {
 
  $category[$count] = '<li><a href="'.$res[2].'" target="_blank">'.$res[1].'</a></li>';
  $count++; 
 
      }
 
return $category;
}
?>

<?
include('category.php');
$link=get_category();
foreach($link as $item):
      echo $item;
endforeach;?>

<?function get_category()
{
$query = "SELECT * FROM category WHERE active =1";
$sql = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
         while ($res = mysql_fetch_array($sql)) 
 {
 
  $category[$count] = $res;
  $count++; 
 
      }
 
return $category;
}?>

<?$link=get_category();
foreach($link as $item):?>
<li><a href="<?=$item['ссыло'];?>" target="_blank"><?=$item['название'];?></a></li>
<?endforeach;?>