[Gllug] Perl DBI question

[Ryan Cartwright]

Adrian McMenamin wrote:
> Maybe more appropriate for a perl list...
> 
> Given a database of N records where N > 0 but size of N is otherwise
> unkown, is it possible to pick a random record from the database?
> 
> I cannot find any examples on google...
> 
> Alternatively, any simple way (ie other than selecting every record and
> counting them) of determining N?
> 
> Thanks
> 

Isn't this just a case of using rand[om] within your SQL?

SELECT * FROM TABLE1 ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1; -- MySQL

SELECT * FROM TABLE1 ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 1; -- PostgreSQL

Run that through your DBI calls and grab the result.

Of course I'm making the assumptions that you are using MySQL/PostgreSQL.

HTH
Ryan
-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at gllug.org.uk
http://lists.gllug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug