MySQL/PHP Sélectionner uniquement des valeurs uniques dans plusieurs colonnes et les placer dans des tableaux séparés

Si vous souhaitez le conserver sous la forme d'une seule instruction SQL, vous pouvez :

$sql = "
    SELECT DISTINCT 'make' as descr,make as val FROM items
    UNION
    SELECT DISTINCT 'model' as descr,model as val FROM items
    UNION
    SELECT DISTINCT 'year' as descr,year as val FROM items
    UNION
    SELECT DISTINCT 'month' as descr,month as val FROM items
    UNION
    SELECT DISTINCT 'day' as descr,day as val FROM items
    UNION
    SELECT DISTINCT 'hour' as descr,hour as val FROM items";

$result = @mysql_query($sql, $con) or die(mysql_error());

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
    $make_array[$row['descr']][]=$row['val'];
}