display random image url from folder - php

Question

I have a php code which uses every image in a folder and echos the url on my page.
what i need help with is making the php code randomize the list of urls each time the page is loaded.
The code that i have is:
<?php
if ($handle = opendir('images')) {
while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle)))
{
if ($file != "." && $file != "..")
{
$thelist .= '<div data-delay="5"><img src="images/'.$file.'"></div>';
}
}
closedir($handle);
}
?>
<?=$thelist?>
many thanks

Answer 1

Easiest solution would be to put all filenames into an array and then use shuffle() to mix it up. Then you can iterate over the array and output the images. It should look something like this:
<?php
$thelist = "";
if ($handle = opendir('images')) {
$images = array();
while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {
if ($file != "." && $file != "..") {
array_push($images, 'images/'.$file);
}
}
closedir($handle);
shuffle($images);
foreach ($images as $image) {
$thelist .= '<div data-delay="5"><img src="'.$image.'"></div>';
}
echo $thelist;
}
?>
By using glob() instead of opendir() you could shorten the code significantly, as glob() returns an array and then you only would need to shuffle that one.

Answer 2

put your file links into an array and shuffle it with the function shuffle()
<?php
if ($handle = opendir('images')) {
$fileTab = array();
while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {
if ($file != "." && $file != "..") {
$fileTab[] = $file;
}
}
closedir($handle);
shuffle($fileTab);
foreach($fileTab as $file) {
$thelist .= '<div data-delay="5"><img src="images/'.$file.'"></div>';
}
}
?>
<?=$thelist?>

Answer 3

Instead of directly creating divs in the while loop, use it only to store all urls in an Array. Then shuffel that array, and use a foreach loop in order to populate $thelist.

Answer 4

Why don't you use glob()?
$images = glob('images/*.{jpg,png,gif}', GLOB_BRACE);
shuffle($images);
foreach($images as $image) {
echo '<div data-delay="5">
<img src="', $image ,'">
</div>';
}