How to order results of a query randomly & select random rows in MySQL?

To order results of a query randomly, use ORDER BY RAND(). The syntax is as follows −

select * from DemoTable1559 where yourColumnName IN(yourValue1,yourValue2,....N) order by rand() limit yourLimitValue;

Let us first create a table −

mysql> create table DemoTable1559
   -> (
   -> EmployeeId int,
   -> EmployeeName varchar(20),
   -> EmployeeAge int
   -> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (1.22 sec)

Insert some records in the table using insert command −

mysql> insert into DemoTable1559 values(101,'Bob',28);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.17 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1559 values(102,'Robert',26);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.16 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1559 values(103,'Sam',25);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.17 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1559 values(104,'Mike',29);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.17 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1559 values(105,'John',34);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.18 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1559 values(106,'Carol',31);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.19 sec)

Display all records from the table using select statement −

mysql> select * from DemoTable1559;

This will produce the following output −

+------------+--------------+-------------+
| EmployeeId | EmployeeName | EmployeeAge |
+------------+--------------+-------------+
|        101 | Bob          |          28 |
|        102 | Robert       |          26 |
|        103 | Sam          |          25 |
|        104 | Mike         |          29 |
|        105 | John         |          34 |
|        106 | Carol        |          31 |
+------------+--------------+-------------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Following is the query to order results of a query randomly and select random rows −

mysql> select * from DemoTable1559 where EmployeeId IN(101,103,106) order by rand() limit 3;

This will produce the following output −

+------------+--------------+-------------+
| EmployeeId | EmployeeName | EmployeeAge |
+------------+--------------+-------------+
|        101 | Bob          |          28 |
|        103 | Sam          |          25 |
|        106 | Carol        |          31 |
+------------+--------------+-------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)