Title: WP_Query::query
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_Query::query( string|array $query ): 󠀁[WP_Post](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_post/)󠁿[]|int[]

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Sets up the WordPress query by parsing query string.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [WP_Query::parse_query()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Query/parse_query/):
   for all available arguments.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$query`string|arrayrequired

URL query string or array of query arguments.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 [WP_Post](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_post/)[]|int[] Array
of post objects or post IDs.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function query( $query ) {
    	$this->init();
    	$this->query      = wp_parse_args( $query );
    	$this->query_vars = $this->query;
    	return $this->get_posts();
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-query.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-query.php#L3954)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-query.php#L3954-L3959)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_Query::get_posts()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/get_posts/)`wp-includes/class-wp-query.php` |

Retrieves an array of posts based on query variables.

  | 
| [WP_Query::init()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/init/)`wp-includes/class-wp-query.php` |

Initiates object properties and sets default values.

  | 
| [wp_parse_args()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_parse_args/)`wp-includes/functions.php` |

Merges user defined arguments into defaults array.

  |

[Show 1 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#)

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Query::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/__construct/)`wp-includes/class-wp-query.php` |

Constructor.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/query/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [1.5.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/1.5.0/) | Introduced. |

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