Define Your Own WordPress Loop Using WP_Query
Ronald Huereca 
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We all know what the WordPress Loop is right? If not, there are many great tutorials around the web that explain the WordPress Loop.
One of the easiest ways to navigate and manipulate the loop is to use the function called query_posts. Nathan Rice calls it a WordPress developers best friend.
When you use query_posts, however, you risk the following:
- Potential to interfere with plugins which make use of the Loop.
- Potential to invalidate WordPress conditional tags.
- Having to deal with resetting, rewinding, offsetting…
I say skip query_posts. In a way you’ll still be using it, but the better (and sometimes easier) technique is to instantiate your own WP_Query object and create your own loop.
Creating Your Own Loop With WP_Query
The first step is to instantiate your own variable using the WP_Query class.
What we’ll be doing in this example is creating a common feature on blogs, which is to display a list of the recent articles.
<?php $recentPosts = new WP_Query(); $recentPosts->query('showposts=5'); ?>
All I’ve done in the above code is defined a variable named recentPosts and instantiated an instance of WP_Query.
I then used a method of WP_Query to start a query (pretty much the same thing as using query_posts). You even use the same usage parameters as query_posts.
Now it’s time to start our own loop:
Notice the use of the recentPosts variable to start the loop. We utilize two methods of WP_Query, which is have_posts and the_post. You can read more about those two methods on my article Global Variables and the WordPress Loop.
The beauty of this is that once you are inside your own loop, you can use the standard post tags.
The Full Code
Here’s the full code for showing the last five recent posts using your own loop:
<h3>Recent Articles</h3> <ul> <?php $recentPosts = new WP_Query(); $recentPosts->query('showposts=5'); ?> <?php while ($recentPosts->have_posts()) : $recentPosts->the_post(); ?> <li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li> <?php endwhile; ?> </ul>
Update: Using Pagination
This comment is from Aaron Harun -
@Ron and Monika
If you use the query:
$recentPosts->query('showposts=5'.'&paged='.$paged);
it will automatically page the wury based on the page number passed
through the url eg "/page/4"
However, this doesn't work with the “post_nav_link” function because it
only checks the $wp_query variable. To get around this you have to
trick the function by switching $wp_query on it. Add the first block
before your custom loop and the second after to achieve this effect.
<?php //query_posts('paged='.$paged); $temp = $wp_query; $wp_query= null; $wp_query = new WP_Query(); $wp_query->query('showposts=5'.'&paged='.$paged); ?>
Thanks Aaron for the contribution.
Conclusion
Defining your own loop using WP_Query is an easy way to run your own custom queries without interfering with the default Loop. It’s also a great way to run multiple loops that are completely independent of each other.
WordPress Resources mentioned:
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Hi Ronald
of support threads will be open….pagination doesn’t work for me
I have a great wish:
This way is killing the next and previous link. Please show this loop with full functionable pagination or “thousands”
thanks a lot
Monika
I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that. It looks like from the pagination code that it ties into the default loop.
It appears that you’ve found a weakness of this technique over query_posts. To be honest, I don’t think you’d really want to use pagination with this type of technique, which should be independent of the standard WordPress loop.
Perhaps someone else can chime in?
Hi Ronald
To use this loop in index.php doesn’t make sense, so I try it in archive.php , WP has the order to show 10 articles per page,
with this loop it shows 5 recent posts and 5 from the archive, because to combine two loops with if have posts …while … WP dig one’s heel in and says: 10 articles are 10 articles
I have this day no time to play with your loop, but if someone would like to us it he must be aware of this
kindly regards
Monika
I’ve used this method for the index page to separate a featured post:
$my_query = new WP_Query('cat=-1&showposts=1');
while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post();
$do_not_duplicate = $post->ID;
... do stuff here ...
endwhile;
and further down show the rest of the posts
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();
if( $post->ID == $do_not_duplicate ) continue; update_post_caches($posts);
.. do stuff here ...
endwhile;
...pagination...
else;
endif;
The only way that I could get pagination to work was to remove one category from showing…so I chose the default uncategorized category. Since I wanted every post being under a category that I defined, it really wasn’t an issue.
I forgot to mention that with this I was also using WP-Sticky to “sticky” the featured post (sticky for single day, announcement for multiple days). Without this plugin it would just show the latest post in the featured post area.
@Monika: Thanks for that technique. I was wondering a more effective way to separate a featured post from the rest of the loop.
oh there was a fatal error if I tried to send my comments before , so I’ll try it again
@ Leland there is no loop from me in this comments
I know 5 ways to highlight the first post
http://www.texto.de/texto/5-wa.....ess-theme/
and here is my loop for the last 5 posts with pagination
OH! it is my code I’ll try it in another way
Recent Articles
rewind_posts();
$wp_query->query_vars["showposts"] = 5;
$wp_query->get_posts();
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
…your stuff
endwhile;
…next_posts_link(’« Older Entries’) …
.. previous_posts_link(’Newer Entries »’) ….
endif;
regards Monika
[...] ????? Define Your Own WordPress Loop Using WP_Query?????? [...]
Ronald,
You’re absolutely right. query_posts kills your other loops (if using multiple loops). I’ve been using the alternate technique for about 6 months now, and it works great!
And as far as I know, pagination only works with the default loop. It’s best to use conditional tags to qualify the standard loop if you want to keep pagination. For instance, if you want to exclude a category from the standard loop, then do this:
if have posts : while have posts : the post
if(!in_category(’2′)) :
standard stuff like title and content
endif
endwhile
endif
That excludes any post that is in category 2 from being displayed. Pretty easy.
Thank you for the guide!
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Thanks, Ronald. This was really helpful. Is there any chance you could go into more detail about how the pagination workaround works?
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Great and informative post. I’ve been learning and modifying the loop myself by following other tutorials, this is a great addition. Like Julian above, I would like to learn more about the pagination workaround though. It seems like a really great feature, especially if a page has many different loops running. Paging results seems like a really great user experience.
That would probably require a separate post for the explanation. I’ll see what I can do.
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Thank you! Good guide and a perfect way to run multiple independent loops.
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I use this on my site for the listing of posts on the main page, with two wp_query loops on the right side of the page. Then in my sidebar (left side) I use it for the quick thoughts (or asides as everyone calls them), the latest gallery and latest panoramic image.
So all in all when you view the main page of my Web site, that is five wp_query post loops.
[...] Define Your Own WordPress Loop Using WP_Query [...]
[...] ????? Define Your Own WordPress Loop Using WP_Query????? [...]
How to fetch posts based on custom fields. I want to show posts that contain similar custom field value, using WP loop (so that pagination work).