Random Stuff

[Anon]

I'm working on a site with products, i need to display a random product on the front page.

The primary key of the table is product_id.

Do i need to do something with index in mysql? Any help appreciated

[jbardin]

You can't use a column with RAND() values in an ORDER BY clause, because ORDER BY would evaluate the column multiple times. In MySQL Version 3.23, you can, however, do: SELECT FROM table_name ORDER BY RAND() This is useful to get a random sample of a set SELECT FROM products ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1.. this is what you most likely want. Note that a RAND() in a WHERE clause will be re-evaluated every time the WHERE is executed.

-Jon

quoting documentation since 1999