php display random value from key on array - php

Question

I have array which have in letter format key.
'A' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'B' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'C' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'D' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'E' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'F' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'H' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'G' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
...
I need to pick random value from each element. Example, when I set $output = "FGH"
Output will be:
F - (RANDOM WORD FROM ARRAY KEY F)\n
G - (RANDOM WORD FROM ARRAY KEY F)\n
H - (RANDOM WORD FROM ARRAY KEY H)\n
I used my code below but doesn't work..
$result = array();
foreach($chars as $char){
$random_key = array_rand($words[$char]); // get random key
$key = $words[$char][$random_key]; // get the word
unset($words[$char][$random_key]); // unset it so that it will never be repeated
$result[$key] = $char; // push it inside
}
Thanks to anyone that would help me

Answer 1

This gives a random word from whichever keys are specified in $output (note I have modified your $chars array slightly to make it obvious which value is being returned):
$chars = array(
'A' => array('A_WORD1','A_WORD2','A_WORD3'),
'B' => array('B_WORD1','B_WORD2','B_WORD3'),
'C' => array('C_WORD1','C_WORD2','C_WORD3'),
'D' => array('D_WORD1','D_WORD2','D_WORD3'),
'E' => array('E_WORD1','E_WORD2','E_WORD3'),
'F' => array('F_WORD1','F_WORD2','F_WORD3'),
'G' => array('G_WORD1','G_WORD2','G_WORD3'),
'H' => array('H_WORD1','H_WORD2','H_WORD3')
);
$output = 'FGH';
$result = array();
foreach(str_split($output) as $key) {
$result[] = $chars[$key][array_rand($chars[$key])];
}
var_dump($result);
The secret sauce here is the str_split() function.

Answer 2

<?php
$a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");
$random_keys=array_rand($a,3);
echo $a[$random_keys[0]]."<br>";
echo $a[$random_keys[1]]."<br>";
echo $a[$random_keys[2]];
?>
for your reference : http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-rand.php

Answer 3

If you have already set up the random arrays to pick words from, it's quite straight forward with count() and rand().
//$globalWordArray = .......;
$selectedArray = array('B','D','F');
$wordList = array();
foreach($selectedArray as $words){
$wordList[] = $globalWordArray[$words][rand(0,count($globalWordArray[$words])-1];
}

Answer 4

This could be a solution:
$letters = array(
'A' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'B' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'C' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'D' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'E' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'F' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'H' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
'G' => array('WORD1','WORD2','WORD3'),
);
$output = "FGH";
for ($i=0; $i < strlen($output); $i++) {
echo $output[$i] ." - (RANDOM WORD FOR ARRAY KEY " . $output[$i]." ";
echo $letters[$output[$i]][array_rand($letters[$output[$i]])] .")" . "<br />";
}
Output is:
F - (RANDOM WORD FOR ARRAY KEY F WORD3)
G - (RANDOM WORD FOR ARRAY KEY G WORD3)
H - (RANDOM WORD FOR ARRAY KEY H WORD1)

Answer 5

Your logic looks wrong where you are actually performing the randomisation, see comments in your code below
$result = array();
foreach($chars as $char){
$random_key = array_rand($words[$char]);
$key = $words[$char][$random_key]; // This is a value at this point yet you named it key
unset($words[$char][$random_key]);
$result[$key] = $char; // This will create an entry in result such as $result['WORD 1'] = 'F', I'm sure thats wrong
}
Fixed version below
$result = array();
foreach($chars as $char){
$random_key = array_rand($words[$char]);
$value = $words[$char][$random_key];
unset($words[$char][$random_key]);
$result[$char] = $value;
}
What you have suggested you want is commonly referred to as a Shuffle Bag (http://kaioa.com/node/89). Shuffle Bags allow you to fill up collections with items and then pick them out randomly until the collection runs out of items. Think of it like the Bag of letters in Scrabble. There is a PHP implementation in the link above.
Using that sort of implementation would turn your foreach loop to this:
$result = array();
foreach($chars as $char){
$result[$char] = $words[$char]->next();
}