Question

Im trying to display a random record from my table but with no luck this is what I have upto. This is coded in PHP

$range_result = mysql_query("SELECT MAX() AS max_id , MIN() AS min_id FROM pages");
$range_row = mysql_fetch_object( $range_result ); 
$random = mt_rand($range_row->min_id , $range_row->max_id);
$result_random = mysql_query( "SELECT * FROM pages WHERE id >= $random LIMIT 0,1");
echo $result_random;

Wondering if this is an obvious mistake? I have connected to the database fine.

JB

Answer 1

You should do this with straight SQL with a mysqli_multi_query for performance:

// First query gets the random ID, second gets the associated row
$sql = "SELECT @id:=FLOOR(RAND()*(MAX(id) - MIN(id))) + MIN(id) FROM pages; 
        SELECT * FROM pages WHERE id = @id;"

// Create a mysqli object and execute the multi-query
$mysqli = new mysqli($host, $user, $pass, $db_name);
$mysqli->multi_query($sql);
$result = $mysqli->store_result();

// Grab the first row from the first resultset
if ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    print_r($row);
}