Group random array elements

[smproph]

I have it to where it groups two parts of the Array randomly but I need to make it where it won't pair the same together, or if it has already been paired with a team then use another team. Each value of the array can only be used once.

 

Here is my code

shuffle($teamname);

$loopCount = $games;

for ($i = 0; $i < $loopCount; $i++) {
    $player1 = array_pop($teamname);
    $player2 = array_pop($teamname);
if(is_null($player1))
{
	echo 'Not enough different teams to create '.$games.' games';
	break;
}
    // output to screen
    echo "Team: " . $player1 . " Vs Team: " . $player2 . "<br />"; 

}
	}

 

[ManiacDan]

This is called the "handshake problem" (or, more broadly, permutations and combinations).  Look it up on wikipedia, the read will benefit the way you think about algorithms.

 

-Dan