Picking one random video from YouTube API JSON Response (PHP)

Question

Let's say I do a simple youtube search using the YouTube API v3, and I get a response like this:

{
 "kind": "youtube#searchListResponse",
 "etag": "\"m2yskBQFythfE4irbTIeOgYYfBU/1MwZbx-vX21eNjUJjkUlNHKCIhI\"",
 "nextPageToken": "CAIQAA",
 "regionCode": "US",
 "pageInfo": {
  "totalResults": 412,
  "resultsPerPage": 2
 },
 "items": [
  {
   "kind": "youtube#searchResult",
   "etag": "\"m2yskBQFythfE4irbTIeOgYYfBU/q2KHbIuwnAhM64HgrqhBqc5xvTI\"",
   "id": {
    "kind": "youtube#video",
    "videoId": "gpZvuZEiINA"
   },
   "snippet": {
    "publishedAt": "2014-03-30T11:46:50.000Z",
    "channelId": "UCCaE0Bj6NI-y8_yL1FpcJUw",
    "title": "Depression-90` instrumental (download link)",
    "description": "E-Mail: ensari5500@gmail.com\nNew old school instrumental with download link ,Enjoy the beat, I hope you like it!\nPlease comment, rate and subscribe if you like this beat\nI appreciate YOUR support! Peace and respect",
    "thumbnails": {
     "default": {
      "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gpZvuZEiINA/default.jpg",
      "width": 120,
      "height": 90
     },
     "medium": {
      "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gpZvuZEiINA/mqdefault.jpg",
      "width": 320,
      "height": 180
     },
     "high": {
      "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gpZvuZEiINA/hqdefault.jpg",
      "width": 480,
      "height": 360
     }
    },
    "channelTitle": "Ekii020 90` OLDSCHOOL - BOOMBOOMBAP INSTRUMENTALS",
    "liveBroadcastContent": "none"
   }
  },
  {
   "kind": "youtube#searchResult",
   "etag": "\"m2yskBQFythfE4irbTIeOgYYfBU/HXRyGhFaD4Cn0wvF5XPMJKX5tNQ\"",
   "id": {
    "kind": "youtube#video",
    "videoId": "G7ThqpcuPTI"
   },
   "snippet": {
    "publishedAt": "2017-08-05T23:30:24.000Z",
    "channelId": "UCsFmkkSVNgvihycqqtjSXgA",
    "title": "Homeless (Dark Sad Piano Hip Hop Rap Instrumental Beat)",
    "description": "http://rightbeatradio.com/product/homeless/\n\nI wrote a song about a humble man I met yesterday. We spoke for a while. He just wanted to talk. He was homeless.\n\nI cut some pieces from a few jazz recordings and put them behind a simple piano riff.\n\nThis music has a lot of feeling. Perfectly describes how I felt after our conversation.\n\nTake care.\n\n89 bpm\n\nrightbeatradio.com\ntwitter.com/rightbeatradio",
    "thumbnails": {
     "default": {
      "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G7ThqpcuPTI/default.jpg",
      "width": 120,
      "height": 90
     },
     "medium": {
      "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G7ThqpcuPTI/mqdefault.jpg",
      "width": 320,
      "height": 180
     },
     "high": {
      "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G7ThqpcuPTI/hqdefault.jpg",
      "width": 480,
      "height": 360
     }
    },
    "channelTitle": "Right Beat Radio",
    "liveBroadcastContent": "none"
   }
  }
 ]
}

I would like to generate, say, 10 results, but then only pick 1 (one) random [item] from the response. How can I randomize the results, and only pick one of them from this entire response?

I've seen functions such as shuffle() and array_rand() but these don't seem to be the functions that I need.

I have also seen a snippet that goes like this:

$array = json_decode($JSON, true);
$random_entry = array_rand($array['items'], 1);
$json_data = json_encode($random_entry);

I've tried that, but it returns only strings like "nextPageToken" or "kind", etc.

I would like to pick one entire [item] and grab all of its relevant [snippet] data, such as channelId, title, description, thumbnails, etc.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

Try this

$array = json_decode($JSON, true);
$items = $array['items'];
$random_key = array_rand($items, 1);
$json_data = json_encode($items[$random_key]);

array_rand() return array key, not array value.