Use RAND() for random, whereas LIMIT 3 for the number of values i.e. 3 here −
select yourColumnName from yourTableName order by rand() limit 3;
Let us first create a table −
mysql> create table DemoTable646 ( Id int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,FirstName varchar(100) ); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.76 sec)
Insert some records in the table using insert command −
mysql> insert into DemoTable646(FirstName) values('John'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.18 sec) mysql> insert into DemoTable646(FirstName) values('Bob'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.14 sec) mysql> insert into DemoTable646(FirstName) values('Chris'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.10 sec) mysql> insert into DemoTable646(FirstName) values('David'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.28 sec) mysql> insert into DemoTable646(FirstName) values('Bob'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.11 sec) mysql> insert into DemoTable646(FirstName) values('Carol'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.27 sec) mysql> insert into DemoTable646(FirstName) values('Mike'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.10 sec)
Display all records from the table using select statement −
mysql> select *from DemoTable646;
This will produce the following output −
+----+-----------+ | Id | FirstName | +----+-----------+ | 1 | John | | 2 | Bob | | 3 | Chris | | 4 | David | | 5 | Bob | | 6 | Carol | | 7 | Mike | +----+-----------+ 7 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Following is the query to display 3 random values from MySQL table −
mysql> select FirstName from DemoTable646 order by rand() limit 3;
This will produce the following output −
+-----------+ | FirstName | +-----------+ | Mike | | John | | Chris | +-----------+ 3 rows in set (0.00 sec)