>>>>> "Christian" == Christian Mack <Mack@stripped> writes:
Christian> David Fallon wrote:
>>
>> Is it possible to SELECT a random recordset out of a database? If so, what's
>> the syntax? (I want to get a random selection of 5 items from a table).
>>
>> I'm not subscribed to the list, so please reply directly to me.
Christian> Hi David
Christian> I've not tested this myself.
Christian> You have to use 3.23.3 for this to work (which I currently don't use):
Christian> SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY RND() LIMIT 5;
Christian> Or you can add a column and fill it randomly to sort after this (works with
> 3.22.xx versions):
Christian> ALTER TABLE table ADD random DOUBLE;
Christian> UPDATE table SET random=RND();
Christian> SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY random LIMIT 5;
Another option is to do the following:
SELECT *,rand() as r from table ORDER BY r LIMIT 5
In this case you must just ignore the last column in your application.
Regards,
Monty
