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

Instead of SELECT * at the beginning, try SELECT COUNT(*) and use the actual return value instead of num_rows().

Your loop could generate duplicates. I would suggest trying OMG Ponies answer.

There is a whole chapter about random selection in the book SQL Antipatterns.