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php4-beta | 200004

Re: [PHP4BETA] array_rand() feedback From: Sterling Hughes (sterling <email protected>)
Date: 04/29/00

Andrei Zmievski wrote:
>
> I wrote a function called array_rand() that is supposed to return a
> random element from the input array. After I wrote it, I asked myself:
> would it be useful to return the key for that value as well as the value
> itself? What do you think?
>
> Example (without key):
>
> $ar = array(1, 2, 3);
> $val = array_rand($ar);
>
> Example (with key):
> $ar = array("one"=>1, "two"=>2, "three"=>3);
> list($key, $val) = array_rand($ar);
>
> Let me know what you think. I also thought about adding a second
> argument that specifies how many random elements to return. If that gets
> added then returning keys and values for multiple arguments gets a
> little trickier.
>
> -Andrei
> * Unix is user friendly, it is just chooses its users selectively. *
>

I think it would be a good idea to just return keys, not key-value
pairs, since its simple enough to do:

$key = array_rand($ar);
echo $ar[$key]; // value (duh)

I also like the second argument idea, again I think it should be
something like:

list ($key1, $key2, $key3) = array_rand($ar, 3);

Sterling 

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