Random Link PHP - php

Question

EDITED
I'm trying to setup a random link at the bottom of all my pages. I'm using the code below, but want to make it so the current page is not included in the random rotation of links.
Example:
I need code to randomly select and display ONE of these links. The exception being, IF article1.php is currently being viewed, I want it to be excluded from the random selection. That way only links to OTHER articles are seen on any given article.
http://mysite.com/article1.php
http://mysite.com/article2.php
http://mysite.com/article3.php

Answer 1

I would use array_rand with something like:
<?php
$links = array(array('url' => 'http://google.com', 'name'=>'google'),
array('url' => 'http://hotmail.com', 'name' => 'hotmail'),
array('url' => 'http://hawkee.com', 'name' => 'Hawkee'));
$num = array_rand($links);
$item = $links[$num];
printf('%s', $item['url'], $item['name'], $item['name']);
?>
Where links makes it easier to build an array. Nevertheless, I think we miss some details about how you grab your links.
What is the mean of "current page"? because the simplest way to do, is just not add the page to the array.
And the use of array_rand avoids confusion with size of array and so.
Edit: I suppose you use a database, so you may have an sql request like:
SELECT myfieldset FROM `articles` WHERE id = 'theid';
So you know the id of the current article. Now you just have to build an array with some other articles with a query like:
SELECT id FROM `articles` WHERE id NOT IN ('theid') ORDER BY RAND LIMIT 5
And build the candidate array with those results.

Answer 2

Each time you randomly choose a URL to display, pop it off of the array and store it in a temporary variable. Then, on the next rotation make your selection and THEN push the previously used URL back into the array.

Answer 3

$lastUrl = trim(file_get_contents('last_url.txt'));
while($lastUrl == ($randUrl = $urls[rand(0, count($urls) - 1)])){}
file_put_contents('last_url.txt', $randUrl);
// ...
echo $randUrl;
Ensures that on each page load, you will not receive the previous URL. This, however is just an example. You would want to incorporate file locking, exception handling (perhaps) or an entirely different storage medium (DB, etc.)
To ensure the URL is not the same as the current, this should do the trick:
// get current URL
$currentUrl = 'http://' . $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"] . $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
// randomize URLs until you get one that doesn't match the current
while($currentUrl == ($randUrl = $urls[rand(0, count($urls) - 1)])){ }
echo $randUrl;
Google "PHP get current URL", and you'll get considerably more detailed ways to capture the current URL. For example, conditions on whether or not you're use HTTPS, to append an 's' to the protocol component.

Answer 4

try the codes below :
$links = array(
'http://mysite.com/article1.php',
'http://mysite.com/article2.php',
'http://mysite.com/article3.php',
'http://mysite.com/article4.php',
'http://mysite.com/article5.php'
);
$currentPage = basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']);
$count = 0;
$currentIndex = NULL;
foreach($links as $link) {
if(strpos($link, "/".$currentPage)>-1) $currentIndex = $count;
$count++;
}
if($currentIndex) {
do{
$random = mt_rand(0, sizeof($links) - 1);
} while($random==$currentIndex);
} else {
$random = mt_rand(0, sizeof($links) - 1);
}
$random_link = $links[$random];