SQL Server Random Sort

Question

What is the best way to sort the results of a sql query into a random order within a stored procedure?

Answer 1

This is a duplicate of SO# 19412. Here's the answer I gave there:

select top 1 * from mytable order by newid()

In SQL Server 2005 and up, you can use TABLESAMPLE to get a random sample that's repeatable:

SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Contact TABLESAMPLE (1 ROWS) ;