Question

I have a query I need to run and I have 2 problems.

first here is my query:

INSERT INTO  `anzie_oscommerce`.`discount_codes` (
`discount_codes_id` ,
`discount_description` ,
`products_id` ,
`categories_id` ,
`manufacturers_id` ,
`excluded_products_id` ,
`customers_id` ,
`orders_total` ,
`order_info` ,
`exclude_specials` ,
`discount_codes` ,
`discount_values` ,
`minimum_order_amount` ,
`expires_date` ,
`number_of_orders` ,
`number_of_use` ,
`number_of_products` ,
`status`
)
VALUES (
'' ,  'GALA 2012', '' , '' , '' , '' , '' ,  '2',  '1',  '0',  substr(md5(uniqid(rand(), true)), 0, 8),  250,  '0.0000',  '2013-22-06',  '0',  '1',  '0',  '1'
);

The first problem is I need to generate the random code which I am trying to do with the uniqid function I took from php but I know that is not possible. Is there a way to do something similar in sql?

The second problem is I need to run this 250 times to generate 250 different discount codes. Is there a quick way to run an sql multiple times?

Answer 1

For the first problem: it depends on the database you’re using. Mysql has a rand() function: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/mathematical-functions.html#function_rand

For the second: 250 is not many for a database – just putting it in a php for loop would most likely be fine.