How to choose random person on a database ( For a Game Show )

[patmagpantay]

Hello! I have set up a script form called " form tools " without a problem, This script gathers all information in the registration form and stores it into a database (php and mysql), Now I would like to randomly choose 5 people from the data I collected from the database randomly, Since it’s a game, I would like it to be as random as possible, how do I do this?

 

[dbo]

1) You would run a query to pull back all of the users (only their ids might be enough).

2) You would then determine the total number of results returned.

3) You would use the rand function to select an index between 0 and number of rows returned. Also making sure that it does not existing in your array of already selected users.

4) You would store the user at that index in an array.

5) Repeat the process as needed, but not exceeding the total length of your user results. (You can't randomly select 5 unique people if there are only 4 in existence, etc)

[timmah1]

This is what I use for my random banner code

All you'll have to do is change the

$num_displayed = 1 ;

to however many people you want

 

<?
// Connect to the database
mysql_connect ('xxx', 'xxx', 'xxx') ;
mysql_select_db ('xxxx'); 

// Edit this number to however many links you want displaying
$num_displayed = 1 ;

// Select random rows from the database
$result = mysql_query ("SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT $num_displayed"); 

// For all the rows that you selected
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) 

{
// Display them to the screen...

echo "<a href=\"" . $row["link"] . "\">
<img src=\"banners/" . $row["image"] . "\" border=0 title=\"" . $row["title"] . "\">
</a>" ;
}
?>

[Daniel0]

SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1;

or some of the methods here.

[dbo]

I like Daniels!

 

But yeah, there are a lot of different solutions to this problem, shouldn't be too bad to figure out. Just give it a shot and post to us if you have questions.