Manual:Random page/en

A random page can be viewed via Special:Random. This uses the  function, which is capable of avoiding duplicate values for up to approximately 4,611,686,014,132,420,609 (i.e., ≈ $$(2^{31} - 1)(2^{31} - 1)$$) articles, and the  values from the page table. The hook can be used to modify the selection criteria. The  configuration setting was used as a filter, but has been deprecated in v1.16.

By default, selection will be limited to pages from namespaces in. The user can choose which namespace to look in. For example, if they wanted to view a random file they could go to Special:Random/file. If they wanted to view a random mainspace page they could go to Special:Random/main, etc.

The file that implements this feature is SpecialRandompage.php. SpecialRandomredirect.php (Special:Randomredirect) directs the user to a random redirect page (minus the second redirect). There is an array,, that allows for adding extra SQL statements to the query for selecting a random page from the database.