Two q's/ SQL SELECT and echoing tables

[Dolemite50]

Hi,

Ok, I have a table with columns like this:
itema suba itemb subb itemc subc

How would I select from random either itema and suba or itemb and subb or itemc and subc?

I'm trying this with no lucK

$letter = array("a", "b", "c");
$let = array_rand($letter);
$cola="item$let";
$colb="sub$let";
$get  = "SELECT $cola, $colb FROM ...

Am I in the ballpark?

Also, I have a script that is echoing fairly complex tables within a loop containing variables from mysql within. I realize that it will always be a set number of tables so would it be better optimization to just draw the tables out in html beforehand and then use <?php echo $var1 ?> in the cells where need be?

Thanks for any advice on either problem

[Roger_Ramjet]

Your problem is with the concatenation syntax you are using - it is going to return 'item$let' not eg 'itema'
Just change it to

$cola="item" . $let;
$colb="sub" . $let;