orderby=rand doesn’t work ?

(@visio159)

The code given in codex for tag get_posts() displaying random posts doesn’t work. It displays the post as if rand is non-existant.

<ul><li><h2>A random selection of my writing</h2>
    <ul>
 <?php
 $rand_posts = get_posts('numberposts=5&orderby=rand');
 foreach( $rand_posts as $post ) :
 ?>
    <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
 <?php endforeach; ?>
    </ul>
 </li></ul>

Any ideas ?

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

educationthemes
(@educationthemes)

15 years, 8 months ago
I am using the following code:
```
<?php $recent = new WP_Query("cat=4&showposts=1&orderby=rand"); while($recent->have_posts()) : $recent->the_post(); ?>

//do stuff

<?php endwhile; ?>
```
This is working for me dislaying a random post for category 4. You can see it in action on http://www.equaldesign.co.uk in the top right corner bringing in different random testimonials (not on the home page).

I have had hit and miss with the random function though and had to trawl through a number of ways of doing it. The above is working at the moment.
Thread Starter visio159
(@visio159)

15 years, 8 months ago
Hi thanks for the help but it didn’t work for me, I had to use wpdb to query(actually subquery) database directly and get 5 random posts.

Here is the SOLUTION: Just change the numeric value after limit to any number and the the no. of posts displayed will be the equal to that number.
```
<?php

 $querystr = "SELECT * FROM (SELECT wposts.* FROM $wpdb->posts wposts WHERE wposts.post_status = 'publish' ORDER BY rand()) as y limit 5 ";

 $pageposts = $wpdb->get_results($querystr, OBJECT);

?>
 <?php if ($pageposts): ?>
  <?php foreach ($pageposts as $post): ?>
    <?php //setup_postdata($post); ?>

      <li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>

    <?php endforeach; ?>

  <?php else : ?>
    <h2 class="center">Not Found</h2>
    <p class="center">Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.</p>
    <?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . "/searchform.php"); ?>
 <?php endif; ?>
```
Postmatic
(@vernal)

15 years, 8 months ago

The post by educationthemes worked for me.

ash
(@sinha)

15 years, 4 months ago

I am running this query
<?php $featured = new WP_query("cat=11&showposts=1&orderby=rand"); ?>
and somehow it fetches only the first post (in that category).

Any idea how to resolve this?
PS: I am running the latest wp version

Len
(@lenk)

15 years, 4 months ago

Look more closely at what you posted. 😉

showposts=1

ash
(@sinha)

15 years, 4 months ago

Lenk
Sorry for the stupidity – but I stil don’t quite get it.
Req you to help me out 🙂
<?php $featured = new WP_query("cat=2&showposts=1&orderby=rand"); ?>

What’s wrong with this?

Len
(@lenk)

15 years, 4 months ago

Hi sinha. You’re not being stupid. Many times, after having spent several hours working on some code I overlook something obvious. 🙂

You say this snippet of code only fetches the first post. You’re using the showpost= argument in your query but look at how you’re using it…

showposts=1

ash
(@sinha)

15 years, 4 months ago

Umm..but showposts is meant to fetch ‘n’ number of queries (link)
What’s the right code then?

Len
(@lenk)

15 years, 4 months ago

Perhaps I’m not understanding what you’re asking. If you want to display more than one post then adjust showposts= accordingly.

ash
(@sinha)

15 years, 4 months ago

Basically, I do want to display only 1 post – but randomly from a selected category.
THe query that I am running fetches the first post – so essentially, rand function isn’t working fine.

And I am running 2.6.5 – any help?
Len
(@lenk)

15 years, 4 months ago
Hmmm, try this…
```
<?php $featured = new WP_Query("cat=2&showposts=1&orderby=rand"); ?>
<?php if ($featured->have_posts()) :  ?>
<?php while ($featured->have_posts()) : $featured->the_post(); ?>
```