MySQL. Random rows. Convert rows into PHP arrays.

Question

I have a MySQL table with four columns, submited_name, submited_URL, submited_type, uniqueID. In this table i have about 1000 records. I need to select 10 random entries. The problem is that I need to split selected random values into separate PHP arrays. One for each column. My arrays should look something like this:

$ten_random_names = array ('name26', 'name55', 'name107', ect.);
$ten_random_URL = array ('url for name26', 'url for name55', 'url for name107', ect..);
$ten_random_types = array ('type for name26', 'type for name55', 'type for name107', ect..);

possible duplicate of [MySQL Select by random](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3788271/mysql-select-by-random) — GordonM, Jan 17 '12 at 14:46
possible duplicate of [What is the best way to pick a random row from a table in MySQL?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/142242/), [Selecting Random Rows in MySQL](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1283640/), [Alternatives to ORDER BY RAND()](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1823306/) — outis, Jan 18 '12 at 07:03

Marc B · Answer 1 · 2012-01-17T14:44:38.157

5

The basics:

$sql = "SELECT name, url, type FROM ... WHERE ... ORDER BY random() LIMIT 10"; // inefficient, but works
$results = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());

$names = $url = $types = array();
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($results)) {
   $names[] = $row['name'];
   $url[] = $row['url'];
   $type[] = $row['type'];
}

edited Jan 17 '12 at 14:44

answered Jan 17 '12 at 14:37

Marc B

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Shouldn't you add `LIMIT 10` in the query? – ypercubeᵀᴹ Jan 17 '12 at 14:41

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 17 '12 at 14:40

2

$query = "SELECT *
          FROM tablename
          ORDER BY RAND()
          LIMIT 10";
$result = mysql_query($query);

$ten_random_names = $ten_random_URL = $ten_random_types = array();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
  $ten_random_names[] = $row['submited_name'];
  $ten_random_URL[] = $row['submited_URL'];
  $ten_random_types[] = $row['submited_type'];
}

answered Jan 17 '12 at 14:40

DaveRandom

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The mysql extension is outdated and on its way to deprecation. New code should use mysqli or PDO, both of which have important advantages, such as support for prepared statements. – outis Jan 18 '12 at 07:04

MySQL. Random rows. Convert rows into PHP arrays.

2 Answers2