orderby=rand doesn’t work ?

  • 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)

  • 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 https://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)

    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; ?>

    The post by educationthemes worked for me.

    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

    Look more closely at what you posted. ??

    showposts=1

    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?

    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

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

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

    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?

    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(); ?>
Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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