Faster multiple insert and other queries

Multiple inserts using mysql were very slow so I read http://ee.php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-query.php for the function below. It works well, reducing insert/query times dramatically. However, I don't understand the difference below between <1 second and 5 seconds taken for the code below. The first set of inserts sends the queries with no space between them and the second follows the function by putting ;;\n separator to distinguish the queries - which takes longer. Both seem to work better than not doing the function! I am not sure the first one should work without a separator, or what the problems might be when mysql parses the query and/or how to avoid these. Obviously I would prefer to stay with the substantially quicker method. ***the function*************** function multiple_query($q,$link) { $tok = strtok($q, ";;\n"); while ($tok) { $results=mysql_query("$tok",$link); $tok = strtok(";;\n"); } return $results; } ***Using no space between the queries:************** mktime() on previous step: 1124306204 inserted multiple records SSL DELETE FROM Cal WHERE flag='D'INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/1', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/2', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/3', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/4', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/5', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/6', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/7', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/8', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/9', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/10', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/11', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/12', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/13', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/14', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/15', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/16', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/17', '1', 'N', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/18', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/19', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/20', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/21', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/22', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/23', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/24', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/25', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/26', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/27', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/28', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/29', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/30', '1', 'Y', '1124306204')INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/31', '1', 'Y', '1124306204') 1124306204 mktime() on this step: 1124306204 <1 seconds ***Using separator between the queries:***************** mktime() on previous step: 1124306437 inserted multiple records SSL DELETE FROM Cal WHERE flag='D'INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/1', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/2', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/3', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/4', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/5', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/6', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/7', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/8', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/9', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/10', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/11', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/12', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/13', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/14', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/15', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/16', '1', 'Y', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/17', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/18', '1', 'Y', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/19', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/20', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/21', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/22', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/23', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/24', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/25', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/26', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/27', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/28', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/29', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/30', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; INSERT INTO Cal VALUES (NULL, '2005/8/31', '1', 'N', '1124306437');; 1124306442 mktime() on this step: 1124306442 5 seconds ************************************************* Incidentally, the script is on a secure server which access a remote host. John