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The most appropriate use for get_posts is to create an array of posts based on a set of parameters. It retrieves a list of recent posts or posts matching this criteria. get_posts can also be used to create Multiple Loops, though a more direct reference to WP_Query using new WP_Query is preferred in this case.
The parameters of get_posts are similar to those of get_pages but are implemented quite differently, and should be used in appropriate scenarios. get_posts uses WP_Query, whereas get_pages queries the database more directly. Each have parameters that reflect this difference in implementation.
query_posts also uses WP_Query, but is not recommended because it directly alters the main loop by changing the variables of the global variable $wp_query. get_posts, on the other hand, simply references a new WP_Query object, and therefore does not affect or alter the main loop.
If you would like to alter the main query before it is executed, you can hook into it using pre_get_posts. If you would just like to call an array of posts based on a small and simple set of parameters within a page, then get_posts is your best option.
<?php $args = array( 'posts_per_page' => 5, 'offset' => 0, 'cat' => '', 'category_name' => '', 'orderby' => 'date', 'order' => 'DESC', 'include' => '', 'exclude' => '', 'meta_key' => '', 'meta_value' => '', 'post_type' => 'post', 'post_mime_type' => '', 'post_parent' => '', 'author' => '', 'author_name' => '', 'post_status' => 'publish', 'suppress_filters' => true, 'fields' => '', ); $posts_array = get_posts( $args ); ?>
Note: 'numberposts' and 'posts_per_page' can be used interchangeably.
See also get_pages() for example parameter usage.
get_posts() makes use of the WP_Query class to fetch posts. See the parameters section of the WP_Query documentation for a list of parameters that this function accepts.
Note: get_posts uses 'suppress_filters' => true as default, while query_posts() applies filters by default, this can be confusing when using query-modifying plugins, like WPML. Also note that even if 'suppress_filters' is true, any filters attached to pre_get_posts are still applied—only filters attached on 'posts_*' or 'comment_feed_*' are suppressed.
Note: The category parameter needs to be the ID of the category, and not the category name.
Note: The category parameter can be a comma separated list of categories, as the get_posts() function passes the 'category' parameter directly into WP_Query as 'cat'.
Note: The category_name parameter needs to be a string, in this case, the category name.
Note: The posts_per_page parameter does NOT work without setting the offset parameter.
Unlike get_pages(), get_posts() will return private pages in the appropriate context (i.e., for an administrator). (See: Andreas Kirsch, WordPress Hacking II, January 24, 2009-- accessed 2012-11-09.)
If you have your blog configured to show just one post on the front page, but also want to list links to the previous five posts in category ID 1, you can use this:
<ul> <?php global $post; $args = array( 'posts_per_page' => 5, 'offset'=> 1, 'category' => 1 ); $myposts = get_posts( $args ); foreach ( $myposts as $post ) : setup_postdata( $post ); ?> <li> <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a> </li> <?php endforeach; wp_reset_postdata();?> </ul>
Note: With use of the offset, the above query should be used only on a category that has more than one post in it, otherwise there'll be no output.
You can also using the custom queries to make the post with Previous and Next Post Navigation. Here is the following method to make it workable.
<?php
$postlist = get_posts( 'orderby=menu_order&sort_order=asc' );
$posts = array();
foreach ( $postlist as $post ) {
$posts[] += $post->ID;
}
$current = array_search( get_the_ID(), $posts );
$prevID = $posts[$current-1];
$nextID = $posts[$current+1];
?>
<div class="navigation">
<?php if ( !empty( $prevID ) ): ?>
<div class="alignleft">
<a href="<?php echo get_permalink( $prevID ); ?>"
title="<?php echo get_the_title( $prevID ); ?>">Previous</a>
</div>
<?php endif;
if ( !empty( $nextID ) ): ?>
<div class="alignright">
<a href="<?php echo get_permalink( $nextID ); ?>"
title="<?php echo get_the_title( $nextID ); ?>">Next</a>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
</div><!-- .navigation -->
If you need to access the original post that existed before your `foreach()` then need to use `wp_reset_postdata()` to restore the original post object:
<ul> <?php global $post; $args = array( 'posts_per_page' => 5, 'offset'=> 1, 'category' => 1 ); $myposts = get_posts( $args ); foreach ( $myposts as $post ) : setup_postdata( $post ); ?> <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li> <?php endforeach; wp_reset_postdata(); ?> </ul>
Some post-related data is not available to get_posts by default, such as post content through the_content(), or the numeric ID. This is resolved by calling an internal function setup_postdata(), with the $post array as its argument:
<?php global $post; $args = array( 'posts_per_page' => 3 ); $lastposts = get_posts( $args ); foreach ( $lastposts as $post ) : setup_postdata( $post ); ?> <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2> <?php the_content(); ?> <?php endforeach; wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
To access a post's ID or content without calling setup_postdata(), or in fact any post-specific data (data retained in the posts table), you can use $post->COLUMN, where COLUMN is the table column name for the data. So $post->ID holds the ID, $post->post_content the content, and so on. To display or print this data on your page use the PHP echo command, like so:
<?php echo $post->ID; ?>
To show the last ten posts sorted alphabetically in ascending order, the following will display their post date, title and excerpt:
<?php global $post; $args = array( 'posts_per_page' => 10, 'order'=> 'ASC', 'orderby' => 'title' ); $postslist = get_posts( $args ); foreach ( $postslist as $post ) : setup_postdata( $post ); ?> <div> <?php the_date(); ?> <br /> <?php the_title(); ?> <?php the_excerpt(); ?> </div> <?php endforeach; wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
Display a list of 5 posts selected randomly by using the MySQL RAND() function for the orderby parameter value:
<ul> <?php global $post; $args = array( 'posts_per_page' => 5, 'orderby' => 'rand' ); $rand_posts = get_posts( $args ); foreach ( $rand_posts as $post ) : setup_postdata( $post ); ?> <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li> <?php endforeach; wp_reset_postdata(); ?> </ul>
Do this outside any Loops in your template.
<?php
global $post;
$args = array( 'post_type' => 'attachment', 'posts_per_page' => -1, 'post_status' => 'any', 'post_parent' => null );
$attachments = get_posts( $args );
if ( $attachments ) {
foreach ( $attachments as $post ) {
setup_postdata( $post );
the_title();
the_attachment_link( $post->ID, false );
the_excerpt();
}
wp_reset_postdata();
}
?>
Do this inside The Loop (where $post->ID is available).
<?php
$args = array( 'post_type' => 'attachment', 'posts_per_page' => -1, 'post_status' =>'any', 'post_parent' => $post->ID );
$attachments = get_posts( $args );
if ( $attachments ) {
foreach ( $attachments as $attachment ) {
echo apply_filters( 'the_title' , $attachment->post_title );
the_attachment_link( $attachment->ID , false );
}
}
?>
Allows you to get a post ID by post slug.
<?php
$the_slug = 'my-slug';
$args = array(
'name' => $the_slug,
'post_type' => 'post',
'post_status' => 'publish',
'posts_per_page' => 1
);
$my_posts = get_posts( $args );
if( $my_posts ) {
echo 'ID on the first post found ' . $my_posts[0]->ID;
}
?>
Show posts associated with certain taxonomy. If specifying a taxonomy registered to a custom post type then instead of using 'category' you would use '{custom_taxonomy_name}'. (Deprecated since Version 3.1 in favor of 'tax_query').
Following example displays posts tagged with 'jazz', under 'genre' custom taxonomy, using 'tax_query':
$args = array( 'tax_query' => array( array( 'taxonomy' => 'genre', 'field' => 'slug', 'terms' => 'jazz' ) ) ); $postslist = get_posts( $args );
Refer to the taxonomy parameters section of the WP_Query documentation for more examples.
Show posts associated with a certain custom field. Following example displays posts from the 'product' post type that have meta key 'featured' with value 'yes', using 'meta_query':
$args = array( 'post_type' => 'product', 'meta_query' => array( array( 'key' => 'featured', 'value' => 'yes', ) ) ); $postslist = get_posts( $args );
Refer to the custom fields parameters section of the WP_Query documentation for more examples.
get_posts() is located in wp-includes/post.php.