get_post random and order by not working

Question

I have this code that returns list of post title as links, but when I add the 'orderby' and 'order' parameters - it returns results but 'orderby, order, rand' do not work, can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

<ul>
   <?php $post; $cat_posts = get_posts(array('numberposts' => 10, 'orderby' => 'rand', 'order' => ASC, 'category' => $disciplineCatID));
   foreach($cat_posts as $post) : ?>
   <?php $postTitle = get_the_title(); if($title != $postTitle) :?>
   <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">&rsaquo;&rsaquo; <?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
   <?php endif ;?>
   <?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>

Answer 1

Yes, this is the correct syntax:

$args = array(
    'orderby' => 'rand',
    'order'    => 'ASC'
);
query_posts( $args );

However plugins can keep this from working properly. Try disabling ALL plugins and see if that helps. Two known plugins which keep orderby=rand from working are Post Type Order and WP_Sticky

Also, if you have Post Types order installed make sure you visit the Admin page and check the settings. You can use this plugin and keep it from automatically re-ordering posts:

And then you can use the code for Post Types Order to specifically order those posts in places where you need them to be ordered via the custom/menu-order. Here is the example code for that plugin:

The following PHP code will still return the post in the set-up Order:

$args = array(
'post_type' => 'feature'
);

$my_query = new WP_Query($args);
while ($my_query->have_posts())
{
$my_query->the_post();
(..your code..)          
}

Or:

$posts = get_posts($args);
foreach ($posts as $post)
{
(..your code..)     
}

If the Auto Sort is uncheck you will need to use the "orderby" and "order" parameters:

$args = array(
'post_type' => 'feature',
'orderby'   => 'menu_order',
'order'     => 'ASC'
);

Answer 2

Why don't you try to use query_posts instead?

Something like:

$args = array(
    'orderby' => 'rand',
    'order'    => 'ASC'
);
query_posts( $args );

Answer 3

try this code

<?php 
   remove_all_filters('posts_orderby');
   query_posts('orderby=rand'); 
?>

got the answer from here

http://www.reinaris.nl/wp/wordpress-random-post-order-not-working-orderbyrand/

Answer 4

You probably forgot to setup_postdata inside your foreach loop to get template tags to work.