Generate random word from two known words

Question

I can do this with numbers:

<?=number_format(mt_rand(0,1));?>

What I want to do is, instead of 0 or 1, echo the words firstclass or secondclass.

This is because I cannot use numbers as class identifiers in CSS.

Essentially, this is just for displaying random stuff within a list and prepending the class identifier with either firstclass or secondclass.

.firstclass {display:none;}

I am not ace with PHP, so I guess I need to set up an array, and somehow attribute:

0 = firstclass
1 = secondclass

within the array, so that I can get my little test script working.

Any suggestions?

If you want to obtain some integer in [0,9] just multiply with 10^n, and after calculate modulo 10. — Mihai8, Jan 01 '13 at 23:09

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:09

5

<?php echo (mt_rand(0,1) == 0 ? 'firstclass' : 'secondclass'); ?>

answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:09

Wojciech Zylinski

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:08

4

Like this? :

$words = array('firstclass', 'secondclass');
$randomWord = $words[mt_rand(0,1)];

answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:08

ddinchev

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:17

3

Or...

class="a-prefix-<?=number_format(mt_rand(0,1));?>"

CSS classes have to start with an underscore, a dash, or a letter but you can have numbers after that.

answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:17

s_ha_dum

I didnt know that, good concept. Added that to my toolset :) thanks – 422 Jan 01 '13 at 23:18

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:08

2

You can use a ternary-style if statement if you only have two possibilities:

<?=(mt_rand(0,1) == 0) ? 'firstclass' : 'secondclass'?>

answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:08

mellamokb

It's recommended not to use short tags since they only exist for backwards compatibility. They're deprecated. – Jeffrey Jan 01 '13 at 23:16
1

@ArtaexMedia: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/200640/are-php-short-tags-acceptable-to-use. While the short tags `<%` and `` may be deprecated (because they conflict with XML templating engines), `=` most certainly is not. – mellamokb Jan 01 '13 at 23:23

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:16

2

If you going to say that 0 = firstclass, 1 = secondclass why not just use array_rand like this:

$classes = array(
    'firstclass',
    'secondclass'
);

$randClass = $classes[array_rand($classes)];

echo $randClass;

This will also give you the possibility to add more classes if you ever needed

answered Jan 01 '13 at 23:16

PhearOfRayne

I think thats cleaner, for other stuff. Much cleaner and more manageable. That is kind of what I was expecting, but didnt know how to do. Thankyou @Steven Farley – 422 Jan 01 '13 at 23:19

5 Answers5