codeigniter, result() vs. result_array()

result_array() is faster, result() is easier

Result has an optional $type parameter which decides what type of result is returned. By default ($type = "object"), it returns an object (result_object()). It can be set to "array", then it will return an array of result, that being equivalent of caling result_array(). The third version accepts a custom class to use as a result object.

The code from CodeIgniter:

/**
* Query result. Acts as a wrapper function for the following functions.
*
* @param string $type 'object', 'array' or a custom class name
* @return array
*/
public function result($type = 'object')
{
    if ($type === 'array')
    {
        return $this->result_array();
    }
    elseif ($type === 'object')
    {
        return $this->result_object();
    }
    else
    {
        return $this->custom_result_object($type);
    }
}

Arrays are technically faster, but they are not objects. It depends where do you want to use the result. Most of the time, arrays are sufficient.

for the sake of reference:

// $query->result_object() === $query->result()
// returns:
Array ( [0] => stdClass Object ( [col_A] => val_1A , [col_B] => val_1B , ... ) 
        [0] => stdClass Object ( [col_A] => val_2A , [col_B] => val_2B , ... ) 
        ...  
      ) 

// $query->result_array() !== $query->result()
// returns:
Array ( [0] => Array ( [col_A] => val_1A , [col_B] => val_1B , ... ) 
        [1] => Array ( [col_A] => val_2A , [col_B] => val_2B , ... )
        ... 
      ) 

codeigniter docs for result(), and result_array()