We should be familiar with the concept of the loop. As demonstrated below, the WordPress template logic will continue to get posts until there are no more. With each iteration of the loop, we get the post using a SQL query and save the retrieve information int the global variable $wp_query.
<?php
if ( have_posts() ) {
while ( have_posts() ) {
the_post(); ?>
<h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
<?php the_content(); ?>
<?php }
}
Notice that we do not need to pass any parameters to the_title() nor the_content() because they will get there information by default from $wp_query. For example, the_title() will display the contents of $wp_query[“post”]->post_title.
The entire $wp_query array is displayed below so you can see all the variables. Depending on the type of query that was run, some variables will be more or less used. The most useful information has been moved just below.
["in_the_loop"]=> bool(true)
["post"]=> object(WP_Post)#2443 (24)
{
["ID"]=> int(1874)
["post_author"]=> string(1) "1"
["post_date"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 15:08:38"
["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 19:08:38"
["post_content"]=> string(4242) "
the_category() function
The function the_category() is frequently {snip}
"
["post_title"]=> string(51) "WordPress by example: the_category() and the_tags()"
["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) ""
["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed"
["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed"
["post_password"]=> string(0) ""
["post_name"]=> string(46) "wordpress-by-example-the_category-and-the_tags"
["to_ping"]=> string(0) ""
["pinged"]=> string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 16:59:19"
["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 20:59:19"
["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=> int(0)
["guid"]=> string(38) "https://www.cheetahwheelies.com/?p=1874"
["menu_order"]=> int(0)
["post_type"]=> string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0"
["filter"]=> string(3) "raw"
}
["is_single"]=> bool(true)
["is_preview"]=> bool(false)
["is_page"]=> bool(false)
["is_archive"]=> bool(false)
["is_date"]=> bool(false)
["is_year"]=> bool(false)
["is_month"]=> bool(false)
["is_day"]=> bool(false)
["is_time"]=> bool(false)
["is_author"]=> bool(false)
["is_category"]=> bool(false)
["is_tag"]=> bool(false)
["is_tax"]=> bool(false)
["is_search"]=> bool(false)
["is_feed"]=> bool(false)
["is_comment_feed"]=> bool(false)
["is_trackback"]=> bool(false)
["is_home"]=> bool(false)
["is_privacy_policy"]=> bool(false)
["is_404"]=> bool(false)
["is_embed"]=> bool(false)
["is_paged"]=> bool(false)
["is_admin"]=> bool(false)
["is_attachment"]=> bool(false)
["is_singular"]=> bool(true)
["is_robots"]=> bool(false)
["is_favicon"]=> bool(false)
["is_posts_page"]=> bool(false)
["is_post_type_archive"]=> bool(false)
}
The complete unaltered query:
object(WP_Query)#1550 (53)
{
["query"]=> array(2) {
["page"]=> string(0) ""
["name"]=> string(46) "wordpress-by-example-the_category-and-the_tags"
}
["query_vars"]=> array(64)
{
["page"]=> int(0)
["name"]=> string(46) "wordpress-by-example-the_category-and-the_tags"
["error"]=> string(0) ""
["m"]=> string(0) ""
["p"]=> int(0)
["post_parent"]=> string(0) ""
["subpost"]=> string(0) ""
["subpost_id"]=> string(0) ""
["attachment"]=> string(0) ""
["attachment_id"]=> int(0)
["pagename"]=> string(0) ""
["page_id"]=> int(0)
["second"]=> string(0) ""
["minute"]=> string(0) ""
["hour"]=> string(0) ""
["day"]=> int(0)
["monthnum"]=> int(0)
["year"]=> int(0)
["w"]=> int(0)
["category_name"]=> string(0) ""
["tag"]=> string(0) ""
["cat"]=> string(0) ""
["tag_id"]=> string(0) ""
["author"]=> string(0) ""
["author_name"]=> string(0) ""
["feed"]=> string(0) ""
["tb"]=> string(0) ""
["paged"]=> int(0)
["meta_key"]=> string(0) ""
["meta_value"]=> string(0) ""
["preview"]=> string(0) ""
["s"]=> string(0) ""
["sentence"]=> string(0) ""
["title"]=> string(0) ""
["fields"]=> string(0) ""
["menu_order"]=> string(0) ""
["embed"]=> string(0) ""
["category__in"]=> array(0) { }
["category__not_in"]=> array(0) { }
["category__and"]=> array(0) { }
["post__in"]=> array(0) { }
["post__not_in"]=> array(0) { }
["post_name__in"]=> array(0) { }
["tag__in"]=> array(0) { }
["tag__not_in"]=> array(0) { }
["tag__and"]=> array(0) { }
["tag_slug__in"]=> array(0) { }
["tag_slug__and"]=> array(0) { }
["post_parent__in"]=> array(0) { }
["post_parent__not_in"]=> array(0) { }
["author__in"]=> array(0) { }
["author__not_in"]=> array(0) { }
["ignore_sticky_posts"]=> bool(false)
["suppress_filters"]=> bool(false)
["cache_results"]=> bool(true)
["update_post_term_cache"]=> bool(true)
["lazy_load_term_meta"]=> bool(true)
["update_post_meta_cache"]=> bool(true)
["post_type"]=> string(0) ""
["posts_per_page"]=> int(10)
["nopaging"]=> bool(false)
["comments_per_page"]=> string(2) "20"
["no_found_rows"]=> bool(false)
["order"]=> string(4) "DESC"
}
["tax_query"]=> NULL
["meta_query"]=> object(WP_Meta_Query)#2404 (9)
{
["queries"]=> array(0) { }
["relation"]=> NULL
["meta_table"]=> NULL
["meta_id_column"]=> NULL
["primary_table"]=> NULL
["primary_id_column"]=> NULL
["table_aliases":protected]=> array(0) { }
["clauses":protected]=> array(0) { }
["has_or_relation":protected]=> bool(false)
}
["date_query"]=> bool(false)
["queried_object"]=> object(WP_Post)#2443 (24)
{
["ID"]=> int(1874)
["post_author"]=> string(1) "1"
["post_date"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 15:08:38"
["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 19:08:38"
["post_content"]=> string(4242) "
the_category() function
The function the_category() is frequently {snip}
"
["post_title"]=> string(51) "WordPress by example: the_category() and the_tags()"
["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) ""
["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed"
["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed"
["post_password"]=> string(0) ""
["post_name"]=> string(46) "wordpress-by-example-the_category-and-the_tags"
["to_ping"]=> string(0) ""
["pinged"]=> string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 16:59:19"
["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 20:59:19"
["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=> int(0)
["guid"]=> string(38) "https://www.cheetahwheelies.com/?p=1874"
["menu_order"]=> int(0)
["post_type"]=> string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0"
["filter"]=> string(3) "raw"
}
["queried_object_id"]=> int(1874)
["request"]=> string(211) "SELECT wp_apjc_posts.* FROM wp_apjc_posts WHERE 1=1 AND wp_apjc_posts.post_name = 'wordpress-by-example-the_category-and-the_tags' AND wp_apjc_posts.post_type = 'post' ORDER BY wp_apjc_posts.post_date DESC "
["posts"]=> &array(1)
{
[0]=> object(WP_Post)#2443 (24) {
["ID"]=> int(1874)
["post_author"]=> string(1) "1"
["post_date"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 15:08:38"
["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 19:08:38"
["post_content"]=> string(4242) "
the_category() function
The function the_category() is frequently {snip}
"
["post_title"]=> string(51) "WordPress by example: the_category() and the_tags()"
["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) ""
["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed"
["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed"
["post_password"]=> string(0) ""
["post_name"]=> string(46) "wordpress-by-example-the_category-and-the_tags"
["to_ping"]=> string(0) ""
["pinged"]=> string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 16:59:19"
["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 20:59:19"
["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=> int(0)
["guid"]=> string(38) "https://www.cheetahwheelies.com/?p=1874"
["menu_order"]=> int(0)
["post_type"]=> string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0"
["filter"]=> string(3) "raw"
}
}
["post_count"]=> int(1)
["current_post"]=> int(0)
["in_the_loop"]=> bool(true)
["post"]=> object(WP_Post)#2443 (24)
{
["ID"]=> int(1874)
["post_author"]=> string(1) "1"
["post_date"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 15:08:38"
["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 19:08:38"
["post_content"]=> string(4242) "
the_category() function
The function the_category() is frequently {snip}
"
["post_title"]=> string(51) "WordPress by example: the_category() and the_tags()"
["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) ""
["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed"
["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed"
["post_password"]=> string(0) ""
["post_name"]=> string(46) "wordpress-by-example-the_category-and-the_tags"
["to_ping"]=> string(0) ""
["pinged"]=> string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 16:59:19"
["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2020-05-31 20:59:19"
["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=> int(0)
["guid"]=> string(38) "https://www.cheetahwheelies.com/?p=1874"
["menu_order"]=> int(0)
["post_type"]=> string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0"
["filter"]=> string(3) "raw"
}
["comment_count"]=> int(0)
["current_comment"]=> int(-1)
["found_posts"]=> int(1)
["max_num_pages"]=> int(0)
["max_num_comment_pages"]=> int(0)
["is_single"]=> bool(true)
["is_preview"]=> bool(false)
["is_page"]=> bool(false)
["is_archive"]=> bool(false)
["is_date"]=> bool(false)
["is_year"]=> bool(false)
["is_month"]=> bool(false)
["is_day"]=> bool(false)
["is_time"]=> bool(false)
["is_author"]=> bool(false)
["is_category"]=> bool(false)
["is_tag"]=> bool(false)
["is_tax"]=> bool(false)
["is_search"]=> bool(false)
["is_feed"]=> bool(false)
["is_comment_feed"]=> bool(false)
["is_trackback"]=> bool(false)
["is_home"]=> bool(false)
["is_privacy_policy"]=> bool(false)
["is_404"]=> bool(false)
["is_embed"]=> bool(false)
["is_paged"]=> bool(false)
["is_admin"]=> bool(false)
["is_attachment"]=> bool(false)
["is_singular"]=> bool(true)
["is_robots"]=> bool(false)
["is_favicon"]=> bool(false)
["is_posts_page"]=> bool(false)
["is_post_type_archive"]=> bool(false)
["query_vars_hash":"WP_Query":private]=> string(32) "820086345072b1c9c8be45502f7010f8"
["query_vars_changed":"WP_Query":private]=> bool(false)
["thumbnails_cached"]=> bool(false)
["stopwords":"WP_Query":private]=> NULL
["compat_fields":"WP_Query":private]=> array(2)
{
[0]=> string(15) "query_vars_hash"
[1]=> string(18) "query_vars_changed"
}
["compat_methods":"WP_Query":private]=> array(2)
{
[0]=> string(16) "init_query_flags"
[1]=> string(15) "parse_tax_query"
}
}