In Laravel, how do I retrieve a random user_id from the Users table for Model Factory seeding data generation?

Question

Currently, in my ModelFactory.php, I have:

$factory->define(App\Reply::class, function (Faker\Generator $faker) {
  return [
    'thread_id' => 1,
    'user_id' => 1,
    'body' => $faker->paragraph
  ];
});

I would like to generate a random user_id from one of the user ID's already stored in the user table. I'm stumped because I don't know the way to display data output to code properly, and I was wondering how I would be able to allow Laravel to choose a random user ID and insert into the database. Thank you! :)

by not using Eloquent: http://jan.kneschke.de/projects/mysql/order-by-rand/ — tereško, May 21 '17 at 22:41
If I understood you correctly, then you must have generated some users. you can use: `$faker->numberBetween(1, 1000),` or `random_int(1, 1000)` considering that you have 1000 users. — Peyman, May 21 '17 at 22:48

score 86 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 23 '21 at 20:21

86

Try the below.

use App\User; // Assuming this is your User Model class with namespace.

$factory->define(App\Reply::class, function (Faker\Generator $faker) {
  return [
    'thread_id' => 1,
    'user_id' => User::all()->random()->id,
    'body' => $faker->paragraph
  ];
});

Remember that this gets all the user data from your table and then choses an id randomly. So if your table has huge amount of data, it is not recommended. Instead, in your Test Case, you can create a new User (via its own factory) and assign the id to the Reply object generated from the above factory.

Alternately, you can query for a specific user in the above factory definition.

'user_id' => User::where('username', 'like', 'test@user.com')->get()->random()->id

If you have a test user set up in your DB this will avoid pulling all the user data.

edited Feb 23 '21 at 20:21

Mustafa

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answered May 21 '17 at 22:46

ayip

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I typed in 'use App\User;' at the top of the file ModelFactory.php but when php artisan db:seed is run, 'user_id' shows up as none, what am I doing wrong? – Simon Suh May 22 '17 at 00:28
Do you already have any user data in the DB that you are connecting to? If not, you can seed it using - factory(App\User::class, 5)->create(); so that there will be some user data. Make sure that you are seeding the user data before you try to seed your Reply data – ayip May 22 '17 at 00:32
yes, I have user id's from 51-131 pre-created. so I'm really wishing I'd be able to get a user_id randomly generated between that number as well. Right now I'm trying something like 'user_id' => factory('App\User')->all()->random()->user_id without much success, sorry, I'm a bit noob. :) – Simon Suh May 22 '17 at 00:35
1

What is the column name for user's id in your users table in the database? – ayip May 22 '17 at 00:46
1

Anita, your as much a genius as I'm an idiot, yes, that was the problem, the column name is 'id' instead of 'user_id', now your code works perfectly. Thanks so much Anita! Cheers! :) – Simon Suh May 22 '17 at 00:52
This is much faster: https://stackoverflow.com/a/61835839/5135006 – Michal Mäsiar Mar 16 '21 at 08:59

Henk Poley · Answer 2 · 2019-10-17T12:13:50.480

16

Any class that extends Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model will be able to do this:

User::inRandomOrder()->first()

Or to get a Collection of 3 items:

User::inRandomOrder()->limit(3)->get()

This might be more efficient than using User::all()->first(), which ought to first query all Users.

Your IDE (like PhpStorm) will probably be wildly confused that this is an option though.

Also see: Laravel - Eloquent or Fluent random row

edited Oct 17 '19 at 12:13

answered Oct 17 '19 at 11:53

Henk Poley

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1

This is far better than the accepted answer. This doesn't pull the entire table into memory just to get one random record. – dotNET Jan 25 '23 at 07:13

Nelson Aguiar · Answer 3 · 2019-08-23T21:30:21.143

5

It does not work like that 'user_id':

User::all()->random()->user_id

But that's how it works:

User::all()->random()->id

edited Aug 23 '19 at 21:30

answered Mar 20 '19 at 17:50

Nelson Aguiar

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What are those wired **s called ‍♂️? – Amirreza Nasiri Aug 22 '19 at 15:32
1

this "**" is not going here – Nelson Aguiar Aug 23 '19 at 21:33

Back2Lobby · Answer 4 · 2020-12-01T14:12:55.683

3

It may not be that efficient but you can use it:

User::all('id')->random();

or

rand(1,User::count());

or

User::inRandomOrder()->limit(1)->get();

First one will be more faster than User::all()->random()->id; because that all function by default gets '*' as column name parameter. So, it will get all the columns for all the rows.

edited Dec 01 '20 at 14:12

answered Aug 28 '20 at 06:21

Back2Lobby

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 16 '20 at 11:12

1

I personally like to use.

App\User::pluck('id')->random()

Change the model name which model you want

answered May 16 '20 at 11:12

Pranta Saha

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 19 '22 at 13:08

0

If Anyone wants a unique User_id you can try this.

'user_id' => User::all()->unique()->random()->id,

Or either it's

'user_id' => User::all()->random()->id,

Model name can change as your wants.

answered Feb 19 '22 at 13:08

Md Atiqur

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In Laravel, how do I retrieve a random user_id from the Users table for Model Factory seeding data generation?

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