How to get random value out of an array

Question

I have a an array called $ran = array(1,2,3,4);

I need to get a random value out of this array and store it in a variable, how can I do this?

Answer 1

You can use mt_rand()

$random = $ran[mt_rand(0, count($ran) - 1)];

This comes in handy as a function as well if you need the value

function random_value($array)
{
    return $ran[mt_rand(0, count($ran) - 1)];
}

Answer 2

$rand = rand(1,4);

or, for arrays specifically:

$array = array('a value', 'another value', 'just some value', 'not some value');
$rand = $array[ rand(0, count($array)-1) ];

Answer 3

You get a random number out of an array as follows:

$randomValue = array_rand($rand,1);

Answer 4

PHP provides a function just for that: array_rand()
http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-rand.php

$ran = array(1,2,3,4);
$randomElement = array_rand($ran, 1);

Answer 5

Here is a ready to use function :)

function get_random_value($array) {
  return $array[rand(0, count($array) - 1];
}

Example :

$ran = array(1,2,3,4);
$randomElement = get_random_value($ran);

Answer 6

You can also do just:

$k = array_rand($array);
$v = $array[$k];

This is the way to do it when you have an associative array.