MySQL query to order records but fix a specific name and display rest of the values (only some) random

For this, you can use ORDER BY RAND() with LIMIT. Let us first create a −

mysql> create table DemoTable1426
   -> (
   -> FirstName varchar(20)
   -> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.59 sec)

Insert some records in the table using insert −

mysql> insert into DemoTable1426 values('John');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.17 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1426 values('Adam');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.10 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1426 values('Robert');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.12 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1426 values('David');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.12 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1426 values('Sam');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.13 sec)

Display all records from the table using select −

mysql> select * from DemoTable1426;

This will produce the following output −

+-----------+
| FirstName |
+-----------+
| John      |
| Adam      |
| Robert    |
| David     |
| Sam       |
+-----------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Following is the query to order records but fix a specific name and display rest of the values (only some) random −

mysql> select * from DemoTable1426 order by (FirstName='Robert') desc,RAND()
   -> limit 3;

This will produce the following output −

+-----------+
| FirstName |
+-----------+
| Robert    |
| Adam      |
| David     |
+-----------+
3 rows in set (0.52 sec)