PHP Array shuffle, keeping unique - php

Question

this is my first php script and problem, I've searched hours with no conclusion other than looping a function" too many laterations". but it doesn't solve my problem I've never studied programming or what ever so I'm hoping that there is an educated person to fill me in on this:
I have an array that contains 120 elements; consists of duplicates eg:
myArray = [0]= item_1, [1] = item _1, [2] = item_2, [3] = item_3 ect..
Briefly I'm trying to make a flash php pokermachine but I need these items in the array to be shuffled BUT I do not want the duplicates to be next to each other after the shuffle but I need the duplicates to be still in the array
I can't do a loop function to check this because it will change the shuffle too many times which will effect the odds of the game: below is what I currently have:
/ * Removed the link here that is no longer available */
you may notice at times it will double up with 2 items in the same reel
Basically I created the virtual reel dynamically with php.ini file
these values are repeatedly pushed into an array($virtualreel) so the value may appear 10 times in the reel and another value will appear 5 times variating the odds. Then after I take a random slice() from the $virtualreel to display 3 vars from this reel and repeat the loop 4 more times for the other reels, also I only can shuffle once as I want the slice() to be from the same reels array order
I only shuffle every new spin not running loop functions to shuffle if I double up on a slice(array,3 items).
hope I've explained what I'm after well enough to give you guys an idea.

Answer 1

You can use this function:
<?php
function shuffleArray($myArray) {
$value_count = array_count_values($myArray);
foreach($value_count as $key=>$value) {
if ($value > count($myArray)/2) {
return false;
}
}
$last_value = $myArray[count($myArray) - 1];
unset($myArray[count($myArray) - 1]);
$shuffle = array();
$last = false;
while (count($myArray) > 0) {
$keys = array_keys($myArray);
$i = round(rand(0, count($keys) - 1));
while ($last === $myArray[$keys[$i]]) {
$i = round(rand(0, count($keys) - 1));
}
$shuffle[] = $myArray[$keys[$i]];
$last = $myArray[$keys[$i]];
unset($myArray[$keys[$i]]);
}
if ($last_value === $last) {
$i = 0;
foreach($shuffle as $key=>$value) {
if ($value !== $last_value) {
$i = $key;
break;
}
}
array_splice($shuffle, $i + 1, 0, $last_value);
} else {
$shuffle[] = $last_value;
}
return $shuffle;
}
print_r(shuffleArray(array(1,5,5,3,7,7)));

Answer 2

Why not just:
Edit :
$shuffled = array();
while(count($to_shuffle) > 0):
$i = rand(0, count($to_shuffle)-1);
$shuffled[] = $to_shuffle[$i];
array_splice($to_shuffle, $i, 1,null);
endwhile;
I think this is what you were expecting, if you don't mind not preserving the association between keys and values.