Miscellany

<?phpfunction randomselection($c, $sql) {   // run the query   $result=mysql_query($sql) or die($sql);      // get the upper limit for rand()   $up = mysql_num_rows($result)-1;     // check that there is more data than rows required   if ($up <= $c) {       while ($row=mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {           $selection[] = $row;       }       return $selection;   }     // set up array to hold primary keys and elliminate duplicates   // since random DOES NOT mean unique   // or the query may not return DISTINCT rows   $keys = array();   // get random selection   while (count($keys) < $c) {       // get random number for index           $i = rand(0, $up);           // move pointer to that row number and fetch the data           mysql_data_seek($result, $i);           $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);         //  check if the primary key has already been fetched         if (!in_array($row['id'], $keys)) {             // store the row             $selection[] = $row;           // store the id to prevent duplication           $keys[] = $row['id'];       }   }   return $selection;}?>