shuffle an array

[jandrews3]

I can't figure out why my shuffle function is behaving the way it is. I've populated a multi-dimensional array $_SESSION['data']['question'][$count], $_SESSION['data']['answer'][$count], and $_SESSION['data']['type'][$count]. When I run the code without the shuffle function, it works properly by printing the question, answer and type data to the screen. But when I use the shuffle() function, my printout to the screen is blank. Thanks. Here is my code:

 

 

 

// Get and Assign Questions and Answers

$counter = 0;

$query3 = "SELECT * FROM inno_quiz_questions WHERE quiz_id = '".$row2['id']."' ORDER BY id";

$result3= mysql_query($query3) or die("Could not perform query: ".mysql_error());

$qnum = mysql_num_rows($result3);

while ($row3 = mysql_fetch_array($result3)){

   $_SESSION['data']['question'][$counter] = $row3['question'];

   $_SESSION['data']['answer'][$counter] = $row3['answer'];

   $_SESSION['data']['type'][$counter] = $row3['type'];

   $counter++;

}

 

shuffle($_SESSION['data']); // Shuffle array

 

$count = 0;

while ($count < $_SESSION['quiz']['assigned']){

   print $count.". ".$_SESSION['data']['question'][$count]."<br>";

   print $_SESSION['data']['answer'][$count]."<br>";

   print $_SESSION['data']['type'][$count]."<br><br>";

   $count++;

}

 

[requinix]

You're shuffling the arrays in $_SESSION['data']. That is, you're shuffling "question" and "answer" and "type" around amongst themselves. You aren't actually shuffling the questions, answers, or types.

 

You need to put each question+answer+type tuple into an array and put that array into the session as a unit. Then you can shuffle it.

while ($row3 = mysql_fetch_array($result3)) {
    $_SESSION['data'][] = $row3; // as the key/values are identical
}

print $count . ". " . $_SESSION['data'][$count]['question'] . "<br>";
print $_SESSION['data'][$count]['answer'];
print $_SESSION['data'][$count]['type'];

[jandrews3]

Thank you! Works great. I should have seen that. Thank you again!