get_the_category( int $post_id = false ): WP_Term[]

Retrieves post categories.

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Description

This tag may be used outside The Loop by passing a post ID as the parameter.

Note: This function only returns results from the default "category" taxonomy.
For custom taxonomies use get_the_terms() .

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Parameters

$post_id int Optional
The post ID. Defaults to current post ID.

Default: false

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Return

WP_Term[] Array of WP_Term objects, one for each category assigned to the post.

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Source

File: wp-includes/category-template.php. View all references 

function get_the_category( $post_id = false ) {
	$categories = get_the_terms( $post_id, 'category' );
	if ( ! $categories || is_wp_error( $categories ) ) {
		$categories = array();
	}

	$categories = array_values( $categories );

	foreach ( array_keys( $categories ) as $key ) {
		_make_cat_compat( $categories[ $key ] );
	}

	/**
	 * Filters the array of categories to return for a post.
	 *
	 * @since 3.1.0
	 * @since 4.4.0 Added the `$post_id` parameter.
	 *
	 * @param WP_Term[] $categories An array of categories to return for the post.
	 * @param int|false $post_id    The post ID.
	 */
	return apply_filters( 'get_the_categories', $categories, $post_id );
}

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Hooks

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Used By

Used By
Used By Description
get_the_category_list() wp-includes/category-template.php

Retrieves category list for a post in either HTML list or custom format.
the_category_ID() wp-includes/deprecated.php

Returns or prints a category ID.
the_category_head() wp-includes/deprecated.php

Prints a category with optional text before and after.
get_permalink() wp-includes/link-template.php

Retrieves the full permalink for the current post or post ID.
get_the_category_rss() wp-includes/feed.php

Retrieves all of the post categories, formatted for use in feeds.

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Changelog

Changelog
Version Description
0.71 Introduced.

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User Contributed Notes

  1. Skip to note 1 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 29You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    Show the First Category Name Only

    $categories = get_the_category();

if ( ! empty( $categories ) ) {
	echo esc_html( $categories[0]->name );	
}

    (Echoes the first array element ([0]) of $categories.)

    Make the first category link to the category page:

    $categories = get_the_category();
if ( ! empty( $categories ) ) {
	echo '<a href="' . esc_url( get_category_link( $categories[0]->term_id ) ) . '">' . esc_html( $categories[0]->name ) . '</a>';
}
  2. Skip to note 2 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 16You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Stefano —

    Get the post category if you have a custom post_type

    <?php
/* FIRST
 * Note: This function only returns results from the default “category” taxonomy. For custom taxonomies use get_the_terms().
 */
$categories = get_the_terms( $post->ID, 'taxonomy' );
// now you can view your category in array:
// using var_dump( $categories );
// or you can take all with foreach:
foreach( $categories as $category ) {
    echo $category->term_id . ', ' . $category->slug . ', ' . $category->name . '<br />';
}
  3. Skip to note 3 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 14You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by juanvillegas —

    Example response from function:

    $categories = get_the_category();

var_dump($categories);
    array(1) {
[0]=>
  object(stdClass)#310 (17) {
    ["term_id"]=>
    &int(6)
    ["name"]=>
    &string(10) "familylife"
    ["slug"]=>
    &string(10) "familylife"
    ["term_group"]=>
    int(0)
    ["term_taxonomy_id"]=>
    int(6)
    ["taxonomy"]=>
    string(8) "category"
    ["description"]=>
    &string(0) ""
    ["parent"]=>
    &int(0)
    ["count"]=>
    &int(208)
    ["object_id"]=>
    int(7729)
    ["filter"]=>
    string(3) "raw"
    ["cat_ID"]=>
    &int(6)
    ["category_count"]=>
    &int(208)
    ["category_description"]=>
    &string(0) ""
    ["cat_name"]=>
    &string(10) "familylife"
    ["category_nicename"]=>
    &string(10) "familylife"
    ["category_parent"]=>
    &int(0)
  }
}
  4. Skip to note 4 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 9You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    Show All Categories as Links
    This outputs all the categories assigned to the post as links. Must be used inside the loop. You can also use the function get_the_category_list() for this.

    $categories = get_the_category();
$separator = ' ';
$output = '';
if ( ! empty( $categories ) ) {
	foreach( $categories as $category ) {
		$output .= '<a href="' . esc_url( get_category_link( $category->term_id ) ) . '" alt="' . esc_attr( sprintf( __( 'View all posts in %s', 'textdomain' ), $category->name ) ) . '">' . esc_html( $category->name ) . '</a>' . $separator;
	}
	echo trim( $output, $separator );
}
  6. Skip to note 6 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 3You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by fgilio —

    To display a list of categories associated with a post, separated by commas, write this code:


    $cats = array();
    foreach (get_the_category($post_id) as $c) {
    $cat = get_category($c);
    array_push($cats, $cat->name);
    }

    if (sizeOf($cats) > 0) {
    $post_categories = implode(', ', $cats);
    } else {
    $post_categories = 'Not Assigned';
    }

    echo $post_categories;

  9. Skip to note 9 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 1You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    Show Category Images
    This outputs category images named after the cat_ID with the alt attribute set to cat_name. You can also use any of the other member variables instead.

    <?php
$categories = get_the_category();
foreach ( $categories as $category ) { 
	echo '<img src="' . esc_url( 'http://example.com/images/' . intval( $category->term_id ) . '.jpg' ) . '" alt="' . esc_attr( $category->name ) . '" />'; 
}

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