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<refentry xml:id="function.array-rand" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook">
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>array_rand</refname>
  <refpurpose>Pick one or more random entries out of an array</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>
 <refsect1 role="description">
  &reftitle.description;
  <methodsynopsis>
   <type>mixed</type><methodname>array_rand</methodname>
   <methodparam><type>array</type><parameter>input</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type>int</type><parameter>num_req</parameter><initializer>1</initializer></methodparam>
  </methodsynopsis>
  <para>
   <function>array_rand</function> is rather useful when you want to
   pick one or more random entries out of an array.
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="parameters">
  &reftitle.parameters;
  <para>
   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>input</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       The input array.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>num_req</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Specifies how many entries you want to pick - if not specified,
       defaults to 1.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="returnvalues">
  &reftitle.returnvalues;
  <para>
   If you are picking only one entry, <function>array_rand</function>
   returns the key for a random entry. Otherwise, it returns an array
   of keys for the random entries. This is done so that you can pick
   random keys as well as values out of the array.
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="changelog">
  &reftitle.changelog;
  <para>
   <informaltable>
    <tgroup cols="2">
     <thead>
      <row>
       <entry>&Version;</entry>
       <entry>&Description;</entry>
      </row>
     </thead>
     <tbody>
      <row>
       <entry>5.2.10</entry>
       <entry>
        The resulting array of keys is no longer shuffled.
       </entry>
      </row>
      &changelog.randomseed;
     </tbody>
    </tgroup>
   </informaltable>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="examples">
  &reftitle.examples;
  <para>
   <example>
    <title><function>array_rand</function> example</title>
    <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$input = array("Neo", "Morpheus", "Trinity", "Cypher", "Tank");
$rand_keys = array_rand($input, 2);
echo $input[$rand_keys[0]] . "\n";
echo $input[$rand_keys[1]] . "\n";
?>
]]>
    </programlisting>
   </example>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="seealso">
  &reftitle.seealso;
  <para>
   <simplelist>
    <member><function>shuffle</function></member>
   </simplelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

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