Show top 3 random posts on Wordpress - php

Question

I have custom page where there are 10 posts showing right now, what i need to show first 3 random then next 4-7 again random and 8-10 again random
Is their any way i can manage in the while loop
<?php
$count = 1;
while ( $loop->have_posts() ) : $loop->the_post();
echo the_title();
$count++;
endwhile;
?>
Thanks

Answer 1

If I understood you correctly, this should get you close to what you want.
Put your posts into an array first:
$posts = array();
while ( $loop->have_posts() ) {
$loop->the_post();
array_push($posts, $post);
}
Then sort that array. I'll demonstrate with 0-9:
$array = array(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9);
$first = array_slice($array, 0, 3);
$second = array_slice($array, 3, 4);
$third = array_slice($array, 7, 3);
shuffle($first);
shuffle($second);
shuffle($third);
$newarray = array_merge($first, $second, $third);
print join(", ", $array) . "\n" . join(", ", $newarray) . "\n";
Which will lead to a random-ish sorting of the array while keeping "blocks" (top, middle, bottom) in the same order:
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
1, 2, 0, 6, 5, 4, 3, 8, 7, 9
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
0, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 8, 7
Putting it all together:
$posts = array();
while ( $loop->have_posts() ) {
$loop->the_post();
array_push($posts, $post);
}
$first = array_slice($posts, 0, 3);
$second = array_slice($posts, 3, 4);
$third = array_slice($posts, 7, 3);
shuffle($first);
shuffle($second);
shuffle($third);
$newposts = array_merge($first, $second, $third);
foreach($newposts as $mypost) {
print $mypost->post_title . "<br />\n";
}
note that I erroneously had written push $posts, $post; instead of array_push($posts, $post);, I have written a lot of Perl lately, and it shows.