Random record from mysql database with CodeIgniter

Question

I researched over the internet, but could not find anything...

I have a mysql db, and records at a table, and I need to get random record from this table at every page load. how can I do that? Is there any func for that?

Appreciate! thanks

SORTED: link: http://www.derekallard.com/blog/post/ordering-database-results-by-random-in-codeigniter/

$this->db->select('name');
$query = $this->db->get('table');
$shuffled_query = $query->result_array();
shuffle ($shuffled_query);

foreach ($shuffled_query as $row) {
    echo $row['name'] . '<br />';
}

$this->db->order_by('rand()'); is the line which you add into your code to get random results — Muhammad Fahad
– Muhammad Fahad, Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 9:53

starball · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-24 22:03:25Z

102

Codeigniter provides the ability to order your results by 'RANDOM' when you run a query. For instance

function get_random_page()
{
    $this->db->order_by('id', 'RANDOM');
    or
    $this->db->order_by('rand()');
    $this->db->limit(1);
    $query = $this->db->get('pages');
    return $query->result_array();

}

I've used this before and found it to work fine.

edited Dec 24, 2022 at 22:03

starball♦

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answered Oct 27, 2009 at 11:11

Patrick O'Doherty

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2 Comments

Hossein Over a year ago

for large table, this solution is very slow! best method is generate a random number in php and SELECT and WHERE in mysql. @RajSar 's method is simular to this.

DrewRobertson93 Over a year ago

@user57750 that's unreliable. What if some of the records were corrupt or had been removed?

ty812 · Accepted Answer · 2009-10-26 23:42:53Z

6

I don't know about codeigniter, but getting a random dataset is

SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1

The relevant part is "ORDER BY RAND()", obviously.

answered Oct 26, 2009 at 23:42

ty812

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1 Comment

designer-trying-coding Over a year ago

hey thanks, from your clue, I found the link derekallard.com/blog/post/… :) sorted!

FrustratedWithFormsDesigner · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-04 02:31:23Z

4

Do you know how many records there are in the table? You could do something like this:

$count=mysql_exec('select count(*)-1 from some_table');
$count=rand(1,$count);

then:

select * from
some_Table
limit $count,1

edited Nov 4, 2009 at 2:31

answered Oct 26, 2009 at 23:44

FrustratedWithFormsDesigner

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1 Comment

Unreality Over a year ago

I think this is the best way, but should it be Limit $count, 1 ?

Dipanwita Das · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-05 09:25:59Z

4

This code snippet worked well for me.

$this->db->select('name');
$this->db->order_by('rand()');
$this->db->limit(1);
$query = $this->db->get('<table>'); //<table> is the db table name
return $query->result_array();

answered Jan 5, 2016 at 9:25

Dipanwita Das

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Comments

tereško · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-26 08:52:10Z

3

Getting random record from large table is very expensive. Don't use ORDER BY RAND().

This is a bad idea, but if you have a small table no problem. In a huge databases this type of queries very slow.

edited Nov 26, 2011 at 8:52

tereško

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answered Nov 26, 2011 at 8:43

Vahid CH

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Comments

pjmorse · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-22 01:28:59Z

2

I use codeigniter with datamapper. This is the code which I use to get a record randomly from table Advertiser:

 $ad = new Advertiser();
 $ad->limit(3);
 $ad->order_by('id', 'RANDOM');
 $ad->get();

edited Sep 22, 2012 at 1:28

pjmorse

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answered Sep 4, 2012 at 9:41

chantheoun

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Comments

Sugan Krishna · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-14 10:53:04Z

2

SELECT product_id, title, description
FROM products
WHERE active = 1
AND stock > 0
ORDER BY RAND()
LIMIT 4

The ORDER BY RAND() clause returns random records! You can limit records also using LIMIT.

answered Feb 14, 2018 at 10:53

Sugan Krishna

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Comments

SNabi · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-23 12:39:29Z

Lets think we have table where we deleted some rows. There is maybe ID not continues correctly. For sample id: 1,5,24,28,29,30,31,32,33 (9 rows)

mysql_num_rows returns 9

Another methods will return not existing rows: $count=9; //because mysql_num_rows()==9 $count=rand(1,$count); // returns 4 for sample, but we havn't row with id=4

But with my method you always get existing rows. You can separate code and use first 2 code anywhere on site.

// Inside of Controller Class
    function _getReal($id,$name_of_table)
 {
 $Q=$this->db->where('id',$id)->get($name_of_table);
 if($Q->num_rows()>0){return $Q;}else{return FALSE;}
 }

 function _getLastRecord($name_of_table)
 {
 $Q=$this->db->select("id")->order_by('id DESC')->limit("1")->get($name_of_table)->row_array();
 return $Q['id'];
 }

 function getrandom()
 {
       $name_of_table="news";
 $id=rand(1,$this->_getLastRecord($name_of_table));
 if($this->_getReal($id,$name_of_table)!==FALSE)
 {
         echo $id;
         // Here goes your code
 }
 else
 {
         $this->getrandom();
 }
// END

RajSar · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-05 17:15:35Z

1

Getting random record from large table is very expensive. But bellow this code is very effective ..

$count=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query("select * from table_name WHERE SOME_OF_YOUR_CONDITION"));
$nums=rand(1,$count);


mysql_query(" select * from table_name WHERE SOME_OF_YOUR_CONDITION LIMIT $count,1");

This will be helpful ...

answered Apr 5, 2013 at 17:15

RajSar

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Comments

Alfred · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-18 08:45:46Z

0

I think this is not best way. For sample, you've deleted record which is now==$count. You must iterate this for mysql_num_rows()

edited Aug 18, 2012 at 8:45

Alfred

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answered Feb 9, 2010 at 20:55

Samir

1

Comments

Ahmed Mahmoud · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-09 10:37:31Z

0

This function retrieve all rows in table in random order

public function get_questions(){
    $this->db->select('*');
    $this->db->order_by('rand()');
    $this->db->from('multiple_choices');
    $query = $this->db->get();
    return $query->result_array();
}

answered May 9, 2017 at 10:37

Ahmed Mahmoud

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Comments

pgrono · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-02 07:22:36Z

0

Random row without ORDER BY RAND() query:

$all_rows = $this->db->get('table')->result_array();
$random_row = $all_rows[rand(0,count($all_rows)-1)];

answered Jan 2, 2021 at 7:22

pgrono

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