Mysql: Display a random entry from a MySQL database

This example displays one random link from the example database


<?php

//connect to server with username and password, this is the default settings

//when MySQL is installed on Windows XP(Not recommended)

$connection = mysql_connect ("localhost","root", "") or die ("Cannot make the connection");

//connect to database

$db = mysql_select_db ("test",$connection) or die ("Cannot connect to database");

//our SQL query

$sql_query = "SELECT * FROM test ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1";

//store the SQL query in the result variable

$result = mysql_query($sql_query);

if(mysql_num_rows($result)){
//output as long as there are still available fields
while($row = mysql_fetch_row($result)){
echo ("<a href=\"$row[2]\">$row[3]</a>");
echo (": $row[4]<br>");
}
} //if no fields exist
else{
echo "no values in the database";
}
?>