I'd like to show 4 related posts (without a plugin) at the bottom of my blog. However, I want to exclude a certain category.

For example, if my blog post is in category 2 and 3, I want to ignore category 2 and only look for blog posts of category 3. Here is the relevant part of single.php:

Note: my code below is currently not working.

$related = get_posts( array(
    'category__in'  => wp_get_post_categories( $post->ID ),
    'numberposts'   => 4,
    'orderby'       => 'date',
    'post__not_in'  => array( $post->ID ),
    'cat'           => '-2'
) );

if( $related ) { 
    foreach( $related as $post ) {
        setup_postdata($post);
         /** .. **/
    }
}

Update: Category 2 is so prevalent that I want to ignore it in the search, but not hide those results.

For example, this post is in category 2 and 3. I want to find other posts with category 3, and maybe they have category 2, but I only want to search by category 3.

Update 2: I have this code below and I believe it is now working correctly:

$cat_ids = get_the_category();
if( ! empty( $cat_ids ) ) {
    $post_cat_ids = array();
    foreach( $cat_ids as $cat_id ) {
        if( $cat_id->cat_ID != 2 ) {
            $post_cat_ids[] = $cat_id->cat_ID;
        }
    }
}

$related = get_posts( array(
    'category__in' => wp_get_post_categories( $post->ID ),
    'numberposts' => 4,
    'orderby' => 'date',
    'exclude' => array( $post->ID ),
    'category' => $post_cat_ids
    ) );

I'd like to show 4 related posts (without a plugin) at the bottom of my blog. However, I want to exclude a certain category.

For example, if my blog post is in category 2 and 3, I want to ignore category 2 and only look for blog posts of category 3. Here is the relevant part of single.php:

Note: my code below is currently not working.

$related = get_posts( array(
    'category__in'  => wp_get_post_categories( $post->ID ),
    'numberposts'   => 4,
    'orderby'       => 'date',
    'post__not_in'  => array( $post->ID ),
    'cat'           => '-2'
) );

if( $related ) { 
    foreach( $related as $post ) {
        setup_postdata($post);
         /** .. **/
    }
}

Update: Category 2 is so prevalent that I want to ignore it in the search, but not hide those results.

For example, this post is in category 2 and 3. I want to find other posts with category 3, and maybe they have category 2, but I only want to search by category 3.

Update 2: I have this code below and I believe it is now working correctly:

$cat_ids = get_the_category();
if( ! empty( $cat_ids ) ) {
    $post_cat_ids = array();
    foreach( $cat_ids as $cat_id ) {
        if( $cat_id->cat_ID != 2 ) {
            $post_cat_ids[] = $cat_id->cat_ID;
        }
    }
}

$related = get_posts( array(
    'category__in' => wp_get_post_categories( $post->ID ),
    'numberposts' => 4,
    'orderby' => 'date',
    'exclude' => array( $post->ID ),
    'category' => $post_cat_ids
    ) );

• posts
• wp-query
• categories

Share Improve this question edited Feb 27, 2017 at 19:56 cjbj 15k1616 gold badges4242 silver badges8989 bronze badges asked Feb 27, 2017 at 17:26 AustinAustin 11322 silver badges88 bronze badges 2

• I think what I need to do is remove category 2 from this line somehow wp_get_post_categories( $post->ID ) – Austin Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 17:41
• You need to specify category__not_in => array( 2 ) – Nathan Johnson Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 17:42

Add a comment  | 

5 Answers 5

Sorted by: Reset to default 2

What I could gather from your question is:

1. You want to ignore one category (may be more) in the related post query.

2. However, you don't want to actually exclude the posts from that category (in case any post belongs to that category, but also belongs to another category you want to look for).

Based on the assumption above, you may use the following CODE (some explanation is given within the CODE in comments):

    // set the category ID (or multiple category IDs)
    // you want to ignore in the following array
    $cats_to_ignore = array( 2 );
    $categories = wp_get_post_categories( get_the_ID() );
    $category_in = array_diff( $categories, $cats_to_ignore );
    // ignore only if we have any category left after ignoring
    if( count( $category_in ) == 0 ) {
        $category_in = $categories;
    }
    $cat_args = array(
        'category__in'   => $category_in,
        'posts_per_page' => 4,
        'orderby'        => 'date',
        'post__not_in'   => array( get_the_ID() )
        );
    $cat_query = new WP_Query( $cat_args );
    while ( $cat_query->have_posts() ) : $cat_query->the_post();
        /* just example markup for related posts */
        echo '<h2><a href="' . get_the_permalink() . '">' . get_the_title() . '</a></h2>';
    endwhile;
    // reset $post after custom loop ends (if you need the main loop after this point)
    wp_reset_postdata();

You cannot use 'cat' => '-2' or 'category__not_in' => array(2) because that will exclude all posts having category 2, even if those posts have other categories as well. So, instead of excluding, I've ignored the category 2 in the query with this CODE: array_diff( $categories, $cats_to_ignore );.

Note: I've used WP_Query instead of get_posts() because iteration with WP_Query looks more like the original loop. But of course you can use the get_posts() function as well, as it calls WP_Query internally anyway.

Give it a go to category__not_in parameter:

$related = get_posts( array(
    'numberposts'   => 4,
    'orderby'       => 'date',
    'category__in'  => wp_get_post_categories( $post->ID ),
    'category__not_in' => array(2);
) );

It should work.

Reference: https://codex.wordpress/Class_Reference/WP_Query#Category_Parameters

function custom_related_post()
{
    global $post;
    $related = get_posts(array('category__in' => wp_get_post_categories($post->ID), 'numberposts' => 2, 'post__not_in' => array($post->ID)));
    ?>
    <div class="related-post-content wow fadeInUp">
        <h5><?php esc_html_e('Related Posts', 'text-domain'); ?></h5>
        <div class="related-post d-flex">
            <?php
            if ($related) foreach ($related as $post) {
                setup_postdata($post);
                /* translators: used between list items, there is a space after the comma */

                ?>
                <div class="single-relatd-post">
                    <div class="img-overflow">
                        <a href="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail(); ?></a>
                    </div>
                    <h6><?php the_title(); ?></h6>
                    <p><?php the_author(); ?> <span>-</span> <?php echo get_the_date(); ?></p>
                </div>
                <?php wp_reset_postdata();
            }
            ?>
        </div>
    </div>

<?php }

Simply use

'category__not_in' => array( category id )

to exclude the posts from the specific category.

$cat_ids = get_the_category();

if( ! empty( $cat_ids ) ) {
    $post_cat_ids = array();

    foreach( $cat_ids as $cat_id ) {
        if( 2 != $cat_id->cat_ID ) {
            $post_cat_ids[] = $cat_id->cat_ID;
        }
    }
}

$related = get_posts( array(
    'category__in'  => wp_get_post_categories( $post->ID ),
    'numberposts'   => 4,
    'orderby'       => 'date',
    'exclude'       => array( $post->ID ),
    'category'      => $post_cat_ids
) );