Randomly picking out of an array in PHP

Question

I have an array that has values like 1, 5, 6, 9, 11, 45, 56, etc. What I'm trying to do is to randomly one value, perhaps 6. Then I want to pick a random value excluding 6 (so no doubles). Then a random value excluding the last two, all from inside an array. Any help? I'm trying to do this without while loops but if they are necessary then so be it.

Answer 1

I would probably shuffle the array and get the first/last x value

Answer 2

Shuffle the array first and then use it as a stack:

$a = array(1, 5, 6, 9, 11, 45, 56);
shuffle($a);

// now you can have your picks:
$pick = array_pop($a);
$pick = array_pop($a);
$pick = array_pop($a);
$pick = array_pop($a);
...

Answer 3

I suggest the following:

# pick a random key in your array
$rand_key = array_rand($your_array);

# extract the corresponding value
$rand_value = $your_array[$rand_key];

# remove the key-value pair from the array
unset($your_array[$rand_key]);

See: array_rand, unset.