note 110115 deleted from function.array-rand by googleguy

Note Submitter: Birkoff from PHPRomania.net ---- Example of using array_rand with maintaining keys and values. <?php // your array look like this $test = array( 'key1' => 'value1', 'key2' => 'value2', 'key3' => 'value3', 'key4' => 'value4', 'key5' => 'value5' ) ; // set max number of random elements you want $y = $max = 3; for($x = 1; $x<=$y; $x++) { $k = array_rand($test, 1); // because we can get a key already chosen, check how many I have $rand_keys[$k] = $k; if ( count($rand_keys) < $max ) { // If not have the maximum number of our interest, increase the number of loops $y++; } else { // get out of the loop break; } } // shows what he chose. foreach($rand_keys as $k) { echo 'key: '.$k.' - value: '.$test[$k] ."\r\n"; } /* key: key5 - value: value5 key: key1 - value: value1 key: key3 - value: value3 */ ?>