PHP # randomizer

[Ph0eniX]

I want to give it a range (ie 1-5) and have it randomely select a number within it. How would I go about doing that?

TIA 😃

[mutchman]

Try the following. I simply use the PID as an initial random number generator, then grab part of it and compare it to the min and max values.

<?php

            // Set your min and max values here
$min = 1;
$max = 5;

            // Get the process ID number
$random = getmypid();

            // Grab part of the ID number. I start at the second
            // character since  the first character is often '1'. I also
            // grab enough characters (i.e. if my max number is a
            // double digit number, I grab 2 characters from the
            // $random string.
$first = substr($random,1,strlen($max));

            // If the number I grab is larger than the 'max' value,
            // I simply subtract the max value from it. If the number
            // I grab is smaller than the min value, I add the 'max' 
            // value.   
if ($first > $max) {
	$first = $first - $max;
} elseif ($first < $min) {
	$first = $first + $max;
}

            //Now remove leading zeros.
$first = ltrim($first, '0');

echo "Random Number is $first";

?>

[Ph0eniX]

Originally posted by mutchman
Try the following. I simply use the PID as an initial random number generator, then grab part of it and compare it to the min and max values.

<?php

            // Set your min and max values here
$min = 1;
$max = 5;

            // Get the process ID number
$random = getmypid();

            // Grab part of the ID number. I start at the second
            // character since  the first character is often '1'. I also
            // grab enough characters (i.e. if my max number is a
            // double digit number, I grab 2 characters from the
            // $random string.
$first = substr($random,1,strlen($max));

            // If the number I grab is larger than the 'max' value,
            // I simply subtract the max value from it. If the number
            // I grab is smaller than the min value, I add the 'max' 
            // value.   
if ($first > $max) {
	$first = $first - $max;
} elseif ($first < $min) {
	$first = $first + $max;
}

            //Now remove leading zeros.
$first = ltrim($first, '0');

echo "Random Number is $first";

?> [/B]

Thanks man but it seems to be stuck on 4 for some reason. Every time I reload the page is says: Random Number is 4.

[mutchman]

I ran it from the command line and had great results. Not sure if what you are doing is a caching problem or something else.

[Ph0eniX]

Originally posted by mutchman
I ran it from the command line and had great results. Not sure if what you are doing is a caching problem or something else.

I think it may be a caching issue because I tried to do what I want using MySQL's:

select * from table order by rand() limit 1;

It works great when I run a query within mysql but when I use the it in a PHP page it selects the same # every time.

I'll figure it out.

Thanks again 😃

[Ph0eniX]

I found something simpler and it actually works! 😃

<?php
$num = 5;
$generate = rand(1,$num);
echo ($generate);
?>