Quick way to select a random array element?

[Epsilon]

$array = array('red','yellow','blue','green');

What would be a quick, one line way of selecting a random element from an array like this?

[bdl]

PHP Code:

$array = array('red','yellow','blue','green');

// assumes numerically indexed array
echo $array[rand(0, count($array)-1)]; 


[Epsilon]

Excellent, thanks.

[bdl]

Not at all. ;-)

[Stan]

alternatively you could try this:

PHP Code:

<?
$array = array('red','yellow','blue','green');

echo $array[ array_rand($array) ];
?>

array_rand() with only the array as an argument will return 1 random key.

the cool thing about the array_rand() function is that it can return more than 1 random key if you give it a second argument. this would be comparable to an sql select statement with a random clause.

so if i wanted 2 random colors from that array, i could do this:

PHP Code:

<?
$array = array('red','yellow','blue','green');

$rand_array_keys = array_rand($array,2);

echo "First Random Color: " . $array[ $rand_array_keys[0] ] . "<br>\n
     Second Random Color: " . $array[ $rand_array_keys[1] ];
?>

Might not be that relevant to your situation, but this a way you could assure to grab 2 different random elements from the array.

i forget if it was the sql random, or php random function that didn't always return very random results with a small range of options to choose from.