PHP MySQL select random rows

Question

I have a problem selecting 6 random friends

This is the query I\'ve got so far:

$result = num_rows(\"SELECT * FROM friends WHERE member_id = \'\".$_S         


        

Answer 1

The best way I've found to select any number of random records is with OFFSET in the query.

Let's say you want 6 random records, so I'll borrow from an answer above and count the total number of friends in the database.

$sql = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(*) AS total FROM friends WHERE member_id='". $_SESSION['userid'] ."'");

$get_count = mysql_fetch_array($sql); // Fetch the results

$numfriends = $get_count['total']; // We've gotten the total number

Now we'll get the 6 random records out of the total above (hopefully it's > 6),

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM friends WHERE member_id='". $_SESSION['userid'] ."' LIMIT 6 OFFSET " . (rand(0, $numFriends));


while ($rows = mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
  /// show your $rows here
}

Using OFFSET may not be the best or most efficient, but it's worked for me on large databases without bogging them down.