What are some alternative approaches to selecting random records from a database table in PHP without relying on randomly generated IDs?

When selecting random records from a database table in PHP without relying on randomly generated IDs, one approach is to use the `ORDER BY RAND()` clause in the SQL query. This will randomize the order of the records returned by the database, allowing you to fetch a certain number of random records. 

// Connect to the database
$pdo = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase", "username", "password");

// Select 5 random records from the 'users' table
$query = "SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 5";
$stmt = $pdo->query($query);

// Fetch and display the random records
while ($row = $stmt->fetch()) {
    echo $row['username'] . "<br>";
}

Keywords

MySQL ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT RAND() shuffle()

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