MySQL query to select one specific row and another random row?

To select one specific row and another random row, you can use ORDER BY and RAND(). Let us first create a sample table:

mysql> create table oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom
   -> (
   -> Id int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
   -> Name varchar(20)
   -> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.72 sec)

Following is the query to insert some records in the table using insert command:

mysql> insert into oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom(Name) values('Larry');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.56 sec)

mysql> insert into oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom(Name) values('Sam');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.13 sec)

mysql> insert into oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom(Name) values('Mike');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.12 sec)

mysql> insert into oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom(Name) values('Carol');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.15 sec)

mysql> insert into oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom(Name) values('Chris');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.21 sec)

mysql> insert into oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom(Name) values('Bob');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.13 sec)

mysql> insert into oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom(Name) values('David');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.13 sec)

Following is the query to display records from the table using select command:

mysql> select *from oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom;

This will produce the following output

+----+-------+
| Id | Name  |
+----+-------+
| 1  | Larry |
| 2  | Sam   |
| 3  | Mike  |
| 4  | Carol |
| 5  | Chris |
| 6  | Bob   |
| 7  | David |
+----+-------+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Following is the query to select one specific row and another random row:

mysql> select *from oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom ORDER BY (Id= 5) DESC, RAND() LIMIT 0,3;

This will produce the following output

+----+-------+
| Id | Name  |
+----+-------+
| 5  | Chris |
| 1  | Larry |
| 2  | Sam   |
+----+-------+
3 rows in set (0.05 sec)

Let us run the same query again to display random records since we have used RAND():

mysql> select *from oneSpecificRowAndOtherRandom ORDER BY (Id= 5) DESC, RAND() LIMIT 0,3;

This will produce the following output

+----+-------+
| Id | Name  |
+----+-------+
| 5  | Chris |
| 2  | Sam   |
| 4  | Carol |
+----+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)