With WordPress “get_posts”, it is simple to specify exactly which posts, pages, and custom post types we’re searching for. Bobcares, as a part of our WordPress Support Services, offers solutions to every WordPress query that comes our way.

The “get_posts” function in WordPress

The get_posts function in WordPress provides a way to fetch a specific group of posts depending on predefined criteria. It is a very robust get_posts as it gives developers access to the WordPress database to get individual chunks of content.

Displaying a list of posts under the same category or articles by the same author as the one the visitor is reading are a few examples of common use cases. With the help of the WP_Query object and user search criteria, get_posts transforms PHP code into a SQL query for the DB of the WordPress website. The output will transform into WP_Post objects, each of which is a single post. Get posts run through an array of these objects to display the outcomes in accordance with user directions.

Even though get_posts is a method of the WP_Query class, it doesn’t alter The Loop. However, WP_Query uses The Loop to search the database and show posts. The Loop renders posts and pages on the site. It should be reset after each use in the code to avoid site issues. WordPress plugin developers who want to add value without causing issues in the host’s site use get_posts. Because it avoids this pitfall of WP_Query.

Syntax of “get_posts”

The syntax is as follows:

get_posts();

However, calling the function alone does not give us data to interact with because we have not assigned it to a variable. So we can call it as follows:

$sample_array = get_posts();

Parameters of “get_posts”

In the above example, we didn’t include any parameters. Let’s see some of the common parameters we use with the WordPress get_posts function:

• category: Determines whether results should be put into one or more groups based on their IDs.
• order: Decides whether to arrange the results in ascending or descending order.
• include: Based on their IDs, determines the posts we want to include in the output array.
• exclude: Identifies posts based on their IDs that we don’t want to see in the results.
• orderby: Specifies the parameters by which we want to sort the output.
• numberposts: Indicates how many posts we wish to see.
• post_type: Decides if we receive posts, pages, or custom post types using get_posts.
• post_status: Specifies whether the search will return deleted, scheduled, in-progress, or published posts.

Example

We’ll now examine how to show the results we have obtained using WordPress get_posts with an example.

<?php
  $count = 1;
  # Custom parameters added inside arguments array
  $arguments = array(
    "numberposts" => 10
  );
  # Arguments variable provided as argument to get_posts function
  $sample_array = get_posts($arguments);
  foreach($sample_array as $post)
  {
    echo "<h3> ${count}. " . $post->post_title . "</h3>";
    ++$count;
  }
?>

The numberposts parameter’s default setting is five, but here the number is increased to ten. There can be more than one parameter provided, as the arguments array shows. In get_posts, 15 different parameter groups can be searched for.

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Conclusion

This post provides a detailed description from our Support team on WordPress get_posts function. We have also covered the details of the way to show the results from the function.