Take 20 random rows from one table and insert them into another table (single row) as columns

Question

Hi I am using SQL Server 2012 and I have a table with 1000 questions in it as rows. I need to randomly select 20 of those questions and then insert them into a single row on another table as separate columns.

I want to do something like this.

select top 20 questionid from questions order by newid()
insert into questionsets values (q1,q2,q3,q4,q5,q6....)

I have tried doing this various ways but am having trouble getting my head around in in a not to expensive way.

Answer 1

Please try inserting after PIVOTing your result set:

INSERT INTO 
    questionsets    (
    Q1,
    Q2,
    .
    .
    Q20)
SELECT * FROM(
    SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY questionid) RNum FROM(
        SELECT TOP 20 questionid FROM questions ORDER BY NEWID()
)x)y PIVOT (MAX(questionid) FOR RNum IN ([1], [2], [3], ..., [20]))as pvt