Select unique pairs of users from a table at random - php

Question

I want to create random user pairs between our database users.
I have the following user table:
Table: tbl_users
user_id | name
--------+--------------
1 | Jay
2 | Ram
3 | John
4 | Kevin
5 | Jenny
6 | Tony
I want to generate a random result like this:
from_id | to_id
--------+---------
1 | 6
5 | 3
2 | 4
Can this be done in MySQL only?

Answer 1

This is indeed a duplicate of a previous question, so the answer is there.
However, even if it is indeed possible in MySQL doing this there is not really recommended. PHP is a much better tool for handling this, as what you're doing is actually manipulating data as per some business rule. It'll be a lot easier to maintain by doing it in PHP, and I suspect that it'll be less resource-intensive as well.
A possible way to do this, which I'd prefer. Is to do a random sort in SQL, and then pair up two and two rows against each other. Something like this:
$grouping = {};
// Fetching both rows to ensure that we actually have an even number paired up.
while ($row = $res->fetch_array () && $row2 = $res->fetch_array ()) {
$grouping[] = {$row['name'], $row2['name']};
}
If you want to allow for an unmatched user to be listed, simply move the second fetch to the inside of the loop. Then deal with the potentially missing result there.

Answer 2

You can use the following code to generate your list:
select max(from_id) as from_id,
max(to_id) as to_id
from (
select
case when rownum mod 2 = 1 then user_id else null end as from_id,
case when rownum mod 2 = 0 then user_id else null end as to_id,
(rownum - 1) div 2 as pairnum
from (
select user_id, #rownum := #rownum + 1 as rownum
from
(select #rownum := 0) as init,
(select user_id from tbl_user order by rand()) as randlist
) as randlistrownum
) as randlistpairs
group by pairnum;
Step by step, this will:
order the userlist in random order
assign a rownumber to it (otherwise the order will have no meaning)
assign two consecutive rows the same pairnum (rownum = 1 and rownum = 2 get the value pairnum = 0, the next two rows will get pairnum = 1 and so on)
the first row of these paired rows will get the values from_id = user_id and to_id = null, the other row will be to_id = user_id and from_id = null
group by these pairs together to make them into one row
if you have an odd number of users, one user will end up with to_id = null, because it has no partner
A little more compact if you prefer shorter code:
select max(case when rownum mod 2 = 1 then user_id else null end) as from_id,
max(case when rownum mod 2 = 0 then user_id else null end) as to_id
from (
select user_id, #rownum := #rownum + 1 as rownum, (#rownum - 1) div 2 as pairnum
from
(select #rownum := 0) as init,
(select user_id from tbl_user order by rand()) as randlist
) as randlistpairs
group by pairnum;