Tricky idea... how can it be implemented

[Anon]

Hi,

I have a simple database containing 30 rows of information. Let's say they are just different lines of html code.

What I want to do is grab ALL of those 30 rows of information, and output them into simple text files, with each file containing not more than 3 rows of information, without repetitions.

I plan to use this command to randomize the mysql rows:

$sql = "SELECT * FROM table name order by rand()";

Now how could i generate 10 different files containing 3 rows each without repetitions in 1 step?

I tried using 'for' statements and 'while' statements, but i cannot get the code to write to more than one file properly...

Could someone please help me out?

Thank you

[jcleary]

roughly what you need is this (i think)...

$sql = "SELECT * FROM table name order by rand()";
$qry = mysql_query($sql);
$line = 3;
$file_no = 1;
$outfile = 0;
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($qry)) {
if ($line == 3) {
if ($outfile > 0) {
fclose($outfile);
}

 $filename = "outfile" . $file_no;
 $outfile = fopen($filename, "w");
 $line = 0;

}

fwrite($outfile, $row["file_name");
$line++;
}

That should work, but I've not tested it of course.

BTW that order by rand() sounds interesting, I would be grateful if you could let me know if it works.

John

[Anon]

I suspect the sql is wrong. The rand() doesn't work that way, as far as I know. I'd advise you that you first check if the sql is generating the data properly and then move to the file writing sessions.

Nilesh