Try this; it only works on certain versions of mysql: select * from table order by rand(); Peter On Tue, 17 Dec 2002, Miles Thompson wrote: > I dunno - why does this topic pop up periodically. Anyway, here are two > suggestions: > > 1. Add a field to the table, called rand_order. Whenever you update the > table insert a random number in it and when fetching records order by > Rand_order. > > 2. Generate an array of 20 random numbers and use it to index the returned > records. > > Neither of these are though out -- sort of 1:00 in the morning inspiration? > Why do you want them in random order? > > Cheers - Miles > > At 11:10 PM 12/16/2002 -0500, tmb wrote: > >I need to... > > > >1 - Select a set of records from a db > > > >2 - Return a list of one or two fields from the selected record set in > >random order on a web page. > > > >Once I have my selected records & fields... say I end up with 20 records > >after my select query... > > > >How can I return the selected records in _random_ order ?? > > > >Hopefully I have made the question clear... > > > >thanks for any help. > > > >tmb > > > > > > > > > >-- > >PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > >To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > > -- > PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Beckman Internet Guy beckman@purplecow.com http://www.purplecow.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php