Using ORDER BY RAND() to implement random sorting is suitable for small data volumes or temporary requirements, but has poor performance. The problem is that the full table scans and generates random numbers for each row and then sorts it, resulting in extremely low efficiency when queries are large data or high-frequency. Alternatives include: 1. Pre-random numbering; 2. Random ID range sampling; 3. Pagination caching; 4. Maintaining random pools separately. Which method to choose depends on business requirements and data structure.
Sometimes when querying MySQL data, we hope that the results are random, such as making recommendations, lottery or testing data display. At this time, you can use ORDER BY RAND()
to achieve random sorting. However, although this method is simple and direct, it also has its cost and usage scenarios.

Why use ORDER BY RAND()
The most common way is to add:
ORDER BY RAND()
This allows random sorting of query results. For example, you want to randomly select a record from the user table:

SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1;
This is very suitable for small tables or temporary needs, and is easy to develop and easy to understand. But if you have large amounts of data or often need to execute such statements, you should be careful of performance issues.
What are the performance problems?
The problem with ORDER BY RAND()
is that it will scan the data of the entire table, then generate a random number for each row, and then sort it. In other words, if a table has hundreds of thousands or even millions of data, this statement will become very slow.

For example:
- You have an article list with 1 million articles.
- Each time you request the homepage, use
ORDER BY RAND()
to randomly display a few articles. - Then you have to scan the full table every time, which is terriblely inefficient.
Therefore, don't use it casually in interfaces with large data volume or high frequency access .
What are the alternatives?
If you really need to fetch data randomly and the amount of data is not small, you can consider the following alternatives:
- Pre-random numbering : add a random field to each record, generate a random value when inserted, and then sort it according to this field.
- Sampling with a random ID range : first obtain the maximum and minimum ID, then randomly select several IDs in the range, and then find out the corresponding records (applicable to cases where the ID is evenly distributed).
- Pagination cache : If it is a random display within a fixed range, some random results can be cached to reduce the pressure of real-time calculation.
- Maintain a random pool separately : For example, the lottery system can first put the candidate data in another table, update it regularly, and only randomly get it from this "pool" during query.
These methods have their own applicable scenarios. The specific choice depends on your business needs and data structure.
Let's summarize
ORDER BY RAND()
is simple and easy to use, but is not suitable for scenarios where large data volumes or frequent calls are performed. If you just check a few test data occasionally, it's OK; but if you run hundreds of times a day after going online, you have to consider optimization.
Not complicated, but performance impact is easily overlooked.
The above is the detailed content of mysql use random order. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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