WP_Query is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your hands when building a WordPress website. The easiest way to describe what WP_Query is to a complete beginner is that it allows you to do practically anything you want with WordPress content – in terms of fetching the exact post or page you want to display. Want, However, you must first master how WP_Query works.
It also essentially gives web developers the power to access everything on the website. With WP_Query you can preview your latest blog posts, configure how many posts to show, set up a slider-style portfolio website, show random quotes, and more.
Understanding WP_Query
We’ve given examples of what WP_Query can do. However, we still haven’t really answered the question, what is WP_Query?
This is a PHP class used in WordPress. PHP is a popular open-source scripting language that runs WordPress under the hood. WP_Query is commonly used to create custom and direct queries to the WordPress database.
WP_Query allows developers to build complex queries without the need to write separate SQL (Structured Query Language) Questions. It’s basically a shortcut for a lot of optimized queries, especially WordPress for loops.
Many developers use the WP_Query class to customize plugins and themes and how posts are displayed on a website, as well as to configure the general appearance of web pages.
How to use WP_Query
Using WP_Query requires its basic syntax to call Query and implement a new class instance.
new WP_Query();
To manipulate any results or data pulled using WP_Query, you must first assign it to a variable. If you want to use the syntax to customize something related to the post, you use:
$post = new WP_Query();
Additionally, you need to provide arguments to the WP_Query class to pull content from the WordPress database. Wrapping the parameters inside an array makes it possible to specify multiple arguments to WP_Query to further refine the search.
All of these are used when customizing WordPress Loop. A basic loop structure typically looks like this:
<?php
if ( have_posts() ) :
while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
// Display post content
endwhile;
endif;
?>Meanwhile, a custom loop using the WP_Query class would look like this:
<?php
$args = array(
'category_name' => 'news',
'posts_per_page' => 3
);
$my_query = new WP_Query( $args );
if ( $my_query->have_posts() ) {
while ( $my_query->have_posts() ) {
$my_query->the_post();
}
}
wp_reset_postdata();
?>Custom loops using WP_Query can be used to display only specific posts based on certain WordPress taxonomy, category, date, tag, and other parameters.
WP_Query example
Even armed with a basic understanding of WP_Query, there’s already a lot you can do to customize the look of a website. Below are some popular examples of how WP_Query can be used.
latest published posts
WP_Query can only be used to recommend or display the latest content. This way, site visitors can quickly view any time-sensitive posts and ease their reading experience on the website. This would require setting parameters based on the article or post date.
<?php
$args = array(
"date_query" => array(
array(
"year" => date( "Y" ),
"week" => date( "W" ),
)
)
);
$posts = new WP_Query($args);
?>
Promote trending content
The query can also be used to promote trending posts or those with high engagement. To do this, the logic setup would need to look at the number or number of observations.
<?php
$args = array(
"category_name" => "something",
"orderby" => "comment_count"
);
$posts = new WP_Query($args);
?>
Conclusion
The answer to the question of what is WP_Query is simple – it is one of the best ways to custom fetch your site’s content.
WP_Query makes it possible to create new experiences for site visitors, as well as organize their experiences according to their preferences. It is an effective and efficient way of building custom and highly refined searches.
More importantly, WP_Query allows you to create and tweak WordPress themes. Rather than having themes appear exactly as others use them, WP_Query lets you customize them according to your needs and content.
