// description of your code here
I needed to select 5 random records from a MySQL database and found this little squib of code from http://peterfreitag.com/item/466.cfm

SELECT column FROM table ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 5

I took stole this example directly from php.net but it is worth the infraction. Name your form fields correctly and they are placed in arrays in the $_GET or $_POST arrays. This example would return something like this if you selected two of the "beer" elements.

Array
(
[personal] => Array
(
[name] => Fred Derf
[email] => fred@example.com
)

[beer] => Array
(
[0] => warthog
[1] => guinness
)

)

<?php
if ($_POST) {
    echo '<pre>';
    echo htmlspecialchars(print_r($_POST, true));
    echo '</pre>';
}
?>
<form action="" method="post">
    Name:  <input type="text" name="personal[name]" /><br />
    Email: <input type="text" name="personal[email]" /><br />
    Beer: <br />
    <select multiple name="beer[]">
        <option value="warthog">Warthog</option>
        <option value="guinness">Guinness</option>
        <option value="stuttgarter">Stuttgarter Schwabenbräu</option>
    </select><br />
    <input type="submit" value="submit me!" />
</form>

If you open a text file in VI and see one big line with lots of '^M' where the line endings are supposed to be, use this command to fix it.
(Enter the the ^M by hitting ctrl-v and then the return key.)

:1,$s/^M/\r/g

Simple but useful to know...

To get a ls (file list) or df (disk free) to show in K,M or G instead of *huge* numbers of bytes without commas, use the -h flag.

ls -lh
df -h

It's a PITA to recursively get all files in a directory using ftp. Instead use wget.

wget -r ftp://account_name:password@example.com/directoryname

Simply a pop-up form element of all 50 US States. Save you creating your own.

            <select name="state">
              <option value="" selected="selected">Select a state...</option>
              <option value="AL">Alabama</option>
              <option value="AK">Alaska</option>
              <option value="AZ">Arizona</option>
              <option value="AR">Arkansas</option>
              <option value="CA">California</option>
              <option value="CO">Colorado</option>
              <option value="CT">Connecticut</option>
              <option value="DC">District of Columbia</option>
              <option value="DE">Delaware</option>
              <option value="FL">Florida</option>
              <option value="GA">Georgia</option>
              <option value="HI">Hawaii</option>
              <option value="ID">Idaho</option>
              <option value="IL">Illinois</option>
              <option value="IN">Indiana</option>
              <option value="IA">Iowa</option>
              <option value="KS">Kansas</option>
              <option value="KY">Kentucky</option>
              <option value="LA">Louisiana</option>
              <option value="ME">Maine</option>
              <option value="MD">Maryland</option>
              <option value="MA">Massachusetts</option>
              <option value="MI">Michigan</option>
              <option value="MN">Minnesota</option>
              <option value="MS">Mississippi</option>
              <option value="MO">Missouri</option>
              <option value="MT">Montana</option>
              <option value="NE">Nebraska</option>
              <option value="NV">Nevada</option>
              <option value="NH">New Hampshire</option>
              <option value="NJ">New Jersey</option>
              <option value="NM">New Mexico</option>
              <option value="NY">New York</option>
              <option value="NC">North Carolina</option>
              <option value="ND">North Dakota</option>
              <option value="OH">Ohio</option>
              <option value="OK">Oklahoma</option>
              <option value="OR">Oregon</option>
              <option value="PA">Pennsylvania</option>
              <option value="RI">Rhode Island</option>
              <option value="SC">South Carolina</option>
              <option value="SD">South Dakota</option>
              <option value="TN">Tennessee</option>
              <option value="TX">Texas</option>
              <option value="UT">Utah</option>
              <option value="VT">Vermont</option>
              <option value="VA">Virginia</option>
              <option value="WA">Washington</option>
              <option value="WV">West Virginia</option>
              <option value="WI">Wisconsin</option>
              <option value="WY">Wyoming</option>
            </select>

This function returns the full URL of the .swf file. Simple enough.

myUrl = getProperty("", _url );

Simple one-trick-pony PHP function to take a state name (case insensitive) and return the 2 letter abbreviation.

	function state_to_twoletter( $state_name ) {
		
		$state = array();
		$state['ALABAMA']='AL';
		$state['ALASKA']='AK';
		$state['AMERICAN SAMOA']='AS';
		$state['ARIZONA']='AZ';
		$state['ARKANSAS']='AR';
		$state['CALIFORNIA']='CA';
		$state['COLORADO']='CO';
		$state['CONNECTICUT']='CT';
		$state['DELAWARE']='DE';
		$state['DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA']='DC';
		$state['FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA']='FM';
		$state['FLORIDA']='FL';
		$state['GEORGIA']='GA';
		$state['GUAM']='GU';
		$state['HAWAII']='HI';
		$state['IDAHO']='ID';
		$state['ILLINOIS']='IL';
		$state['INDIANA']='IN';
		$state['IOWA']='IA';
		$state['KANSAS']='KS';
		$state['KENTUCKY']='KY';
		$state['LOUISIANA']='LA';
		$state['MAINE']='ME';
		$state['MARSHALL ISLANDS']='MH';
		$state['MARYLAND']='MD';
		$state['MASSACHUSETTS']='MA';
		$state['MICHIGAN']='MI';
		$state['MINNESOTA']='MN';
		$state['MISSISSIPPI']='MS';
		$state['MISSOURI']='MO';
		$state['MONTANA']='MT';
		$state['NEBRASKA']='NE';
		$state['NEVADA']='NV';
		$state['NEW HAMPSHIRE']='NH';
		$state['NEW JERSEY']='NJ';
		$state['NEW MEXICO']='NM';
		$state['NEW YORK']='NY';
		$state['NORTH CAROLINA']='NC';
		$state['NORTH DAKOTA']='ND';
		$state['NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS']='MP';
		$state['OHIO']='OH';
		$state['OKLAHOMA']='OK';
		$state['OREGON']='OR';
		$state['PALAU']='PW';
		$state['PENNSYLVANIA']='PA';
		$state['PUERTO RICO']='PR';
		$state['RHODE ISLAND']='RI';
		$state['SOUTH CAROLINA']='SC';
		$state['SOUTH DAKOTA']='SD';
		$state['TENNESSEE']='TN';
		$state['TEXAS']='TX';
		$state['UTAH']='UT';
		$state['VERMONT']='VT';
		$state['VIRGIN ISLANDS']='VI';
		$state['VIRGINIA']='VA';
		$state['WASHINGTON']='WA';
		$state['WEST VIRGINIA']='WV';
		$state['WISCONSIN']='WI';
		$state['WYOMING']='WY';

		// Canadian Provinces
		// edited 12-5-07
		$state['ALBERTA']='AB';
		$state['BRITISH COLUMBIA']='BC';
		$state['MANITOBA']='MB';
		$state['NEW BRUNSWICK']='NB';
		$state['LABRADOR']='NL';
		$state['NEWFOUNDLAND]='NL';
		$state['NORTHWEST TERRITORIES']='NT';
		$state['NOVA SCOTIA']='NS';
		$state['NUNAVUT']='NU';
		$state['ONTARIO']='ON';
		$state['PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND']='PE';
		$state['QUEBEC']='QC';
		$state['SASKATCHEWAN']='SK';
		$state['YUKON']='YT';

		return $state[strtoupper( $state_name )]; 
		
	}

Here's how to center anything vertically and horizontally in a web page using CSS. Works with most all browsers that support CSS.

I adapted this from Jak psåt web, thanks! <http://www.jakpsatweb.cz/css/css-vertical-center-solution.html>

<html>
	<head>
		<title>Center w/ CSS</title>
		<style type="text/css" media="screen">
			body, html { height:  100%; }
			#outer { height: 100%; width: 100%; overflow:  visible; position: relative; }
			#outer[id] { display: table; position: static; }
			#middle { position: absolute; top: 50%; }
			#middle[id] { display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle; position: static; }
			#inner { position:  relative; top: -50%; text-align: center; }
			#inner[id] { position: static; text-align: center; }
		</style>
	</head>
	<body>
		<div id="outer">
			<div id="middle">
				<div id="inner">
					your stuff here in center of page
				</div>
			</div>
		</div>
	</body>
</html>

A simple version of the explode() function in PHP. It takes a string and splits it up into an array by splitting it at whatever character (or characters) you specify. For example, reading in a tab delimited text file. Will split it into lines by splitting on returns ("\r"). Then split up the lines by splitting on tabs ("\t").

Attribution: I didn't write this myself, I found it in a comment on one of the Actionscript on-line documentation pages.

function explode(separator:String, string:String) {

	var list = new Array();

	if (separator == null) return false;
	if (string == null) return false;

	var currentStringPosition = 0;
	while (currentStringPosition<string.length) {
		var nextIndex = string.indexOf(separator, currentStringPosition);
		if (nextIndex == -1) break;
		var word = string.slice(currentStringPosition, nextIndex);
		list.push(word);
		currentStringPosition = nextIndex+1;
	}
	if (list.length<1) {
		list.push(string);
	} else {
		list.push(string.slice(currentStringPosition, string.length));
	}
	return list;
}