Displaying random lines from a *.txt on a webpage

[Force Flow]

I'm looking for a way to display random (or ordered, doesn't matter) lines of text from a text file on a webpage. I've seen it done before and was wondering how it could be done.

[Force Flow]

*bumpity bump*

[Force Flow]

Any suggestions? What languages could I accomplish this with?

[aym]

Hi force_flow2002,
I wonder if it's possible in JavaScript, but I prefer to do it server-side, so if your host supports PHP, read on!

PHP Code:

<?php
$lines = file('mytext.txt');
//now $lines is an array, each element of the array is a line in the file
$num = rand() % count($lines);
echo $lines[$num];
?>

Of course, you can do it in any other server-side language, but I happen to know PHP the best

[Force Flow]

I suspected it would be done with some server-side language. Rats. That and Flash are my great webpage weaknesses.

Thanks anyway, aym_7

[bmrmrb]

i have seen something very similar with javascript. check out javascript.internet.com

[bmrmrb]

knew it was somewhere! found it here
just replace the "Tip **" with your text

hope this helps!

[aym]

tips here are hardcoded into the page and not saved to a separate txt file.

[Force Flow]

Thanks anyway guys. I managed to find out how to do it.

Thought this thread was long dead

[aym]

so how did you do it? JavaScript? PHP? Or something else?
and it's not me, bmrmrb summoned the thread back to life