how do I make randomized content less random with %'s?

[picasso-trigger]

i am looking to to write script that will pull variables based on percentages.

for example ...

30% of the time, var1 = 1;
20% of the time, var1 = 2;
50% of the time, var1 = 3;

i'm really not sure how to implement this.

any ideas?

[Young Twig]

Maybe something like this:

function percentRandom()
{
     $rand=rand(0,100);

     if($rand<=20) //0-20
     {
          return 2;
     }

     if($rand<=50) //21-50
     {
          return 1;
     }

     return 3; //51-100

}

$var=percentRandom(); 

[dbevfat]

$n = rand(1, 100);
if ($n <= 30)
  $var1 = 1;
elseif (30 < $n && $n <= 50)
  $var1 = 2;
else
  $var1 = 3; 

[dbevfat]

youngtwig was faster

although his script has a minor mistake:
since rand($min, $max) returns a number between $min and $max inclusive, rand(0, 100) actually returns 101 possible values, meaning that number 2 will occur more often (in 21 of 101 tries) than in 20% of the time. But since the difference is really small, this could be called hairsplitting

[picasso-trigger]

wow guys ... you rock ... i'll be trying this shortly
almost at that part

[altecex]

theres always this way too

$num = mtrand(0, 100);

switch ($num <= 20 | ($num > 20 && $num <= 50) | ($num > 50 && $num <= 100)) {
     case (true | false | false):
          //20% of the time, $var1 is 1
          $var1 = 1;
          break;
     case (false | true | false):
          //30% of the time, $var1 is 2
          $var1 = 2;
          break;
     case (false | false | true):
          //50% of the time, $var1 is 3
          $var1 = 3;
          break;
} 

[picasso-trigger]

both repped.

so simple!

[dbevfat]

picasso-trigger, glad we helped

altecex, I've never seen such switch-statement syntax ... Even though I understand it, it seems too confusing to me.

Also, you have made the same mistake as youngtwig - you pick your number between 0 and 100 (inclusive) to get 100 possible return values, but you get 101 and your distribution of resulting numbers is slighly off balance :P

/slap me
don't I have anything better to do then to poke people and split hair?

Best regards

[Young Twig]

this could be called hairsplitting

As long as it's not Hehir-splitting.