Re: Random Numbers..

On Saturday 06 December 2003 10:39 pm, TheHeadSage wrote: > Hey, > > I've got a script which used to generate a random quote. It worked fine > untill this problem occurred.. > > Say we have 4 quotes with QuoteID's of 1 through to 4 > The script would grab a number of rows, and generate a random number > between 1 and this value (being 4 in this case) This worked fine untill, > one of the quotes was removed and another added, leaving 4 quotes once > again, but the last one had an ID of 5. The problem is the Random number > generated is between 1 and 4, so the final quote is never shown.. > > I tried using the RAND() function in the MySQL statement it's self, but > it's not random enough... Perhaps something like SELECT quote FROM quotes ORDER BY RAND('.mt_rand().') LIMIT 1 > > Then I thought of doing this: > > Select all the Quote ID's from the DB. > Store them in an Array. > Generate a random number between 1 and the last ID. > If the Random Number matches a Quote ID, then display the quote, > otherwise Generate another Wow, sounds complicated. How about shuffle($quotes); echo $quotes[0]; but much better speed-wise to do it from the DB. > > But I couldn't get the code to work. Any suggestions on either how to > write the above, or made the MySQL RAND() function, more random? um, yeah. -- Evan Nemerson evan@coeus-group.com http://coeusgroup.com/en -- "A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy - or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." -James Madison