What are the potential pitfalls of using the rand() function in PHP to select random words from a database for a vocabulary trainer?

Using the rand() function in PHP to select random words from a database for a vocabulary trainer can lead to inefficient and biased results. Instead, it is recommended to use ORDER BY RAND() in the SQL query to ensure a more random and efficient selection of words. 

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

// Select random word from the database
$sql = "SELECT word FROM vocabulary ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1";
$stmt = $pdo->query($sql);
$row = $stmt->fetch();

// Display the random word
echo $row['word'];

Keywords

rand() database vocabulary trainer randomness security

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