Random item from PHP array = "access array offset"

Question

Im trying to get a single random key => value from an array but im getting the following error. Any ideas what im doing wrong?

$colors = array("Yellow Sun" => "FAE500", "Golden" => "fab600", "Orange Juice" => "FF6D00", "Photo Blue" => "A2E5F4");


$shuffled = shuffle($colors);
print_r($shuffled[0]);

"Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in"

You don't have an index of 0. The color names are your indexes. — Jason K, Apr 11 '23 at 05:05
Also `shuffle()` returns `true` or `false`. See https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.shuffle.php — nice_dev, Apr 11 '23 at 05:07

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 11 '23 at 05:08

2

shuffle() returns a boolean value indicating whether the shuffle was successful or not. Therefore, $shuffled is a boolean value and not an array. You can use the array_rand() function which returns a random key from an array.

<?php

$keys = array_keys($colors);
$random_key = $keys[array_rand($keys)];
echo $colors[$random_key];

edited Apr 11 '23 at 05:08

nice_dev

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answered Apr 11 '23 at 05:07

AlonS

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that worked! TY - however I need to access the ket value pair? – Chris Apr 11 '23 at 05:17
this appears to only give the value. I need both. Any ideas :) – Chris Apr 11 '23 at 05:57
1

@Chris The key in this example is `$random_key`…! – deceze Apr 11 '23 at 07:56
TY I just can't seem to get the key, only the value shows up. I'll keep at it – Chris Apr 11 '23 at 14:52

Random item from PHP array = "access array offset"

1 Answers1