How to order results randomly in MySQL? Detailed Explaination

In MySQL, you can by using the ORDER BY RAND() clause in your SELECT statement. Here's how it works:

SELECT * FROM your_table
ORDER BY RAND();

Explanation:

SELECT * FROM products
ORDER BY RAND();

This query will return all rows from the products table but in a random order each time you execute it. The ordering is based on the random values generated by the RAND() function.

SELECT * FROM your_table: This part of the query selects all columns (*) from the specified table (your_table). Replace your_table with the actual name of your table.

ORDER BY RAND(): This part of the query orders the selected rows randomly. The RAND() function generates a random float value between 0 and 1 for each row. By using ORDER BY RAND(), you instruct MySQL to order the rows based on these random values.

Example:

This query will return all rows from the products table but in a random order each time you execute it. The ordering is based on the random values generated by the RAND() function.

SELECT * FROM products
ORDER BY RAND();

This query will return all rows from the products table but in a random order each time you execute it. The ordering is based on the random values generated by the RAND() function.

Keep in mind that using ORDER BY RAND() can be inefficient for large tables because MySQL has to generate random values for all rows before sorting them. For small to medium-sized tables, it's generally fine, but for larger datasets, alternative methods may be more efficient.
Learn more : https://www.tutorialandexample.com/sql-order-by-random