display rows randomly from a database with no repetition? - php

Question

I have 5 questions in my database . I wanted them be displayed randomly and with no repetition . I tried using "order by rand ()" but repetition occurred. How can I avoid repetition ?? Following is the code I have done so far !
<?php
$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbuser = 'root';
$dbpass = 'mySql';
$dbname = "papers";
$rec_limit = 1;
$conn = new mysqli($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass , $dbname);
if(! $conn )
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysqli_select_db($conn,"$dbname")or die("cannot select DB");
/* Get total number of records */
$sql = "SELECT * FROM quest ";
$retval = mysqli_query( $conn,$sql );
if(! $retval )
{
die('Could not get data: ' . mysql_error());
}
$row = mysqli_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_NUM );
$rec_count = $row[0];
if( isset($_GET{'page'} ) )
{
$page = $_GET{'page'} + 1;
$offset = $rec_limit * $page ;
}
else
{
$page = 0;
$offset = 0;
}
$left_rec = $rec_count - ($page * $rec_limit);
$sql1 = "SELECT distinct * "." FROM quest "."order by rand()"."LIMIT $offset, $rec_limit";
$retval = mysqli_query( $conn ,$sql1 );
if(! $retval )
{
die('Could not get data: ' . mysql_error());
}
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_ASSOC))
{
echo '<div class="question-content">'.$row["id"].".".$row["question"]."<br><br>".'</div>';
echo '<div class="question-options">';
echo '<input type="radio" name="qn" value="option1" >'.$row["opt1"]."<br>".'</div>';
echo '<input type="radio" name="qn" value="option2" >'.$row["opt2"]."<br>".'</div>';
echo '<input type="radio" name="qn" value="option3" >'.$row["opt3"]."<br>".'</div>';
echo '<input type="radio" name="qn" value="option4" >'.$row["opt4"]."<br><br>".'</div>';
echo '</div>';
"--------------------------------<br>";
}
if( $page > 0 && $page < 5)
{
$last = $page - 2;
echo ''.'next'.'';
}
else if( $page == 0 )
{
echo ''.'next'.'';
}
else if( $left_rec < $rec_limit )
{
$last = $page - 2;
echo "Last Record";
}
mysqli_close($conn);
?>

Answer 1

PHP offers a function called shuffle, which will randomize an array. It assigns new keys as well. Here's an example of how it works:
$array = array(1,2,3,4,5);
shuffle($array);
When you echo the elements of $array you will have them in a randomized (shuffled) order. This is a PHP exclusive solution, the manner in which $array is populated is dependent on your SQL, and is thus outside the scope of this question.