random

[seby]

i have this query:

mysql_query("SELECT topic from news_articles ORDER BY RAND()");

how do i randomize the last three rows (auto increment id) instead of random on all rows?

[planetsim]

mysql_query("SELECT topic from news_articles ORDER BY RAND() DESC LIMIT 3");

That should work

[maybl8r03]

Depending on your required effect
(MySQL)

mysql_query("SELECT topic from news_articles ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 3");

But the above will randomize all and pick the three. I think if you need to just randomize the last 3 sorted records then you will probably have to do it in php itself.

or if you want to sort the randomized records you can do:

mysql_query("SELECT topic from news_articles ORDER BY RAND(), {$strSortfield} LIMIT 3");

Where $strSortfield is the field you want to sort the result table in. Putting the $strSortfield before the RAND() will not give you the needed effect because the sort will happen first and the randomize function will not fire.

[seby]

i tried this:

mysql_query("SELECT topic from news_articles ORDER BY RAND(), id LIMIT 0,3");

but its still randomizing from all rows and not just the last three