wp_list_categories( array|string $args = '' ): void|string|false

Displays or retrieves the HTML list of categories.


Parameters

$args array|string Optional
Array of optional arguments. See get_categories() , get_terms() , and WP_Term_Query::__construct() for information on additional accepted arguments.
  • current_category int|int[]
    ID of category, or array of IDs of categories, that should get the 'current-cat' class. Default 0.
  • depth int
    Category depth. Used for tab indentation. Default 0.
  • echo bool|int
    Whether to echo or return the generated markup. Accepts 0, 1, or their bool equivalents. Default 1.
  • exclude int[]|string
    Array or comma/space-separated string of term IDs to exclude.
    If $hierarchical is true, descendants of $exclude terms will also be excluded; see $exclude_tree. See get_terms() .
  • exclude_tree int[]|string
    Array or comma/space-separated string of term IDs to exclude, along with their descendants. See get_terms() .
  • feed string
    Text to use for the feed link. Default 'Feed for all posts filed under [cat name]'.
  • feed_image string
    URL of an image to use for the feed link.
  • feed_type string
    Feed type. Used to build feed link. See get_term_feed_link() .
    Default empty string (default feed).
  • hide_title_if_empty bool
    Whether to hide the $title_li element if there are no terms in the list. Default false (title will always be shown).
  • separator string
    Separator between links. Default <br />.
  • show_count bool|int
    Whether to include post counts. Accepts 0, 1, or their bool equivalents.
    Default 0.
  • show_option_all string
    Text to display for showing all categories.
  • show_option_none string
    Text to display for the 'no categories' option.
    Default 'No categories'.
  • style string
    The style used to display the categories list. If 'list', categories will be output as an unordered list. If left empty or another value, categories will be output separated by
    tags. Default 'list'.
  • taxonomy string
    Name of the taxonomy to retrieve. Default 'category'.
  • title_li string
    Text to use for the list title <li> element. Pass an empty string to disable. Default 'Categories'.
  • use_desc_for_title bool|int
    Whether to use the category description as the title attribute.
    Accepts 0, 1, or their bool equivalents. Default 0.
  • walker Walker
    Walker object to use to build the output. Default empty which results in a Walker_Category instance being used.
More Arguments from get_categories( ... $args ) Array or query string of term query parameters.
  • taxonomy string|string[]
    Taxonomy name, or array of taxonomy names, to which results should be limited.
  • object_ids int|int[]
    Object ID, or array of object IDs. Results will be limited to terms associated with these objects.
  • orderby string
    Field(s) to order terms by. Accepts:
    • Term fields ('name', 'slug', 'term_group', 'term_id', 'id', 'description', 'parent', 'term_order'). Unless $object_ids is not empty, 'term_order' is treated the same as 'term_id'.
    • 'count' to use the number of objects associated with the term.
    • 'include' to match the 'order' of the $include param.
    • 'slug__in' to match the 'order' of the $slug param.
    • 'meta_value'
    • 'meta_value_num'.
    • The value of $meta_key.
    • The array keys of $meta_query.
    • 'none' to omit the ORDER BY clause.
    Default 'name'.
  • order string
    Whether to order terms in ascending or descending order.
    Accepts 'ASC' (ascending) or 'DESC' (descending).
    Default 'ASC'.
  • hide_empty bool|int
    Whether to hide terms not assigned to any posts. Accepts 1|true or 0|false. Default 1|true.
  • include int[]|string
    Array or comma/space-separated string of term IDs to include.
    Default empty array.
  • exclude int[]|string
    Array or comma/space-separated string of term IDs to exclude.
    If $include is non-empty, $exclude is ignored.
    Default empty array.
  • exclude_tree int[]|string
    Array or comma/space-separated string of term IDs to exclude along with all of their descendant terms. If $include is non-empty, $exclude_tree is ignored. Default empty array.
  • number int|string
    Maximum number of terms to return. Accepts ''|0 (all) or any positive number. Default ''|0 (all). Note that $number may not return accurate results when coupled with $object_ids.
    See #41796 for details.
  • offset int
    The number by which to offset the terms query.
  • fields string
    Term fields to query for. Accepts:
    • 'all' Returns an array of complete term objects (WP_Term[]).
    • 'all_with_object_id' Returns an array of term objects with the 'object_id' param (WP_Term[]). Works only when the $object_ids parameter is populated.
    • 'ids' Returns an array of term IDs (int[]).
    • 'tt_ids' Returns an array of term taxonomy IDs (int[]).
    • 'names' Returns an array of term names (string[]).
    • 'slugs' Returns an array of term slugs (string[]).
    • 'count' Returns the number of matching terms (int).
    • 'id=>parent' Returns an associative array of parent term IDs, keyed by term ID (int[]).
    • 'id=>name' Returns an associative array of term names, keyed by term ID (string[]).
    • 'id=>slug' Returns an associative array of term slugs, keyed by term ID (string[]).
    Default 'all'.
  • count bool
    Whether to return a term count. If true, will take precedence over $fields. Default false.
  • name string|string[]
    Name or array of names to return term(s) for.
  • slug string|string[]
    Slug or array of slugs to return term(s) for.
  • term_taxonomy_id int|int[]
    Term taxonomy ID, or array of term taxonomy IDs, to match when querying terms.
  • hierarchical bool
    Whether to include terms that have non-empty descendants (even if $hide_empty is set to true). Default true.
  • search string
    Search criteria to match terms. Will be SQL-formatted with wildcards before and after.
  • name__like string
    Retrieve terms with criteria by which a term is LIKE $name__like.
  • description__like string
    Retrieve terms where the description is LIKE $description__like.
  • pad_counts bool
    Whether to pad the quantity of a term's children in the quantity of each term's "count" object variable. Default false.
  • get string
    Whether to return terms regardless of ancestry or whether the terms are empty. Accepts 'all' or '' (disabled). Default ''.
  • child_of int
    Term ID to retrieve child terms of. If multiple taxonomies are passed, $child_of is ignored. Default 0.
  • parent int
    Parent term ID to retrieve direct-child terms of.
  • childless bool
    True to limit results to terms that have no children.
    This parameter has no effect on non-hierarchical taxonomies.
    Default false.
  • cache_domain string
    Unique cache key to be produced when this query is stored in an object cache. Default 'core'.
  • update_term_meta_cache bool
    Whether to prime meta caches for matched terms. Default true.
  • meta_key string|string[]
    Meta key or keys to filter by.
  • meta_value string|string[]
    Meta value or values to filter by.
  • meta_compare string
    MySQL operator used for comparing the meta value.
    See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values and default value.
  • meta_compare_key string
    MySQL operator used for comparing the meta key.
    See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values and default value.
  • meta_type string
    MySQL data type that the meta_value column will be CAST to for comparisons.
    See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values and default value.
  • meta_type_key string
    MySQL data type that the meta_key column will be CAST to for comparisons.
    See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values and default value.
  • meta_query array
    An associative array of WP_Meta_Query arguments.
    See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values.

Default: ''


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Return

void|string|false Void if 'echo' argument is true, HTML list of categories if 'echo' is false.
False if the taxonomy does not exist.


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More Information

If you need a function that does not format the results, try get_categories() .

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Usage

By default, wp_list_categories() displays:

  • No link to all categories
  • Sorts the list of Categories by the Category name in ascending order
  • Displayed in an unordered list style
  • Does not show the post count
  • Displays only Categories with posts
  • Sets the title attribute to the Category Description
  • Is not restricted to the child_of any Category
  • No feed or feed image used
  • Does not exclude any Category and includes all Categories
  • Displays the active Category with the CSS Class-Suffix ‘ current-cat’
  • Shows the Categories in hierarchical indented fashion
  • Display Category as the heading over the list
  • No SQL LIMIT is imposed (‘number’ => 0 is not shown above)
  • Displays (echos) the categories
  • No limit to depth
  • All categories.
  • The list is rendered using a new walker object of the the Walker_Category class

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Source

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

function wp_list_categories( $args = '' ) {
	$defaults = array(
		'child_of'            => 0,
		'current_category'    => 0,
		'depth'               => 0,
		'echo'                => 1,
		'exclude'             => '',
		'exclude_tree'        => '',
		'feed'                => '',
		'feed_image'          => '',
		'feed_type'           => '',
		'hide_empty'          => 1,
		'hide_title_if_empty' => false,
		'hierarchical'        => true,
		'order'               => 'ASC',
		'orderby'             => 'name',
		'separator'           => '<br />',
		'show_count'          => 0,
		'show_option_all'     => '',
		'show_option_none'    => __( 'No categories' ),
		'style'               => 'list',
		'taxonomy'            => 'category',
		'title_li'            => __( 'Categories' ),
		'use_desc_for_title'  => 0,
	);

	$parsed_args = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );

	if ( ! isset( $parsed_args['pad_counts'] ) && $parsed_args['show_count'] && $parsed_args['hierarchical'] ) {
		$parsed_args['pad_counts'] = true;
	}

	// Descendants of exclusions should be excluded too.
	if ( true == $parsed_args['hierarchical'] ) {
		$exclude_tree = array();

		if ( $parsed_args['exclude_tree'] ) {
			$exclude_tree = array_merge( $exclude_tree, wp_parse_id_list( $parsed_args['exclude_tree'] ) );
		}

		if ( $parsed_args['exclude'] ) {
			$exclude_tree = array_merge( $exclude_tree, wp_parse_id_list( $parsed_args['exclude'] ) );
		}

		$parsed_args['exclude_tree'] = $exclude_tree;
		$parsed_args['exclude']      = '';
	}

	if ( ! isset( $parsed_args['class'] ) ) {
		$parsed_args['class'] = ( 'category' === $parsed_args['taxonomy'] ) ? 'categories' : $parsed_args['taxonomy'];
	}

	if ( ! taxonomy_exists( $parsed_args['taxonomy'] ) ) {
		return false;
	}

	$show_option_all  = $parsed_args['show_option_all'];
	$show_option_none = $parsed_args['show_option_none'];

	$categories = get_categories( $parsed_args );

	$output = '';

	if ( $parsed_args['title_li'] && 'list' === $parsed_args['style']
		&& ( ! empty( $categories ) || ! $parsed_args['hide_title_if_empty'] )
	) {
		$output = '<li class="' . esc_attr( $parsed_args['class'] ) . '">' . $parsed_args['title_li'] . '<ul>';
	}

	if ( empty( $categories ) ) {
		if ( ! empty( $show_option_none ) ) {
			if ( 'list' === $parsed_args['style'] ) {
				$output .= '<li class="cat-item-none">' . $show_option_none . '</li>';
			} else {
				$output .= $show_option_none;
			}
		}
	} else {
		if ( ! empty( $show_option_all ) ) {

			$posts_page = '';

			// For taxonomies that belong only to custom post types, point to a valid archive.
			$taxonomy_object = get_taxonomy( $parsed_args['taxonomy'] );
			if ( ! in_array( 'post', $taxonomy_object->object_type, true ) && ! in_array( 'page', $taxonomy_object->object_type, true ) ) {
				foreach ( $taxonomy_object->object_type as $object_type ) {
					$_object_type = get_post_type_object( $object_type );

					// Grab the first one.
					if ( ! empty( $_object_type->has_archive ) ) {
						$posts_page = get_post_type_archive_link( $object_type );
						break;
					}
				}
			}

			// Fallback for the 'All' link is the posts page.
			if ( ! $posts_page ) {
				if ( 'page' === get_option( 'show_on_front' ) && get_option( 'page_for_posts' ) ) {
					$posts_page = get_permalink( get_option( 'page_for_posts' ) );
				} else {
					$posts_page = home_url( '/' );
				}
			}

			$posts_page = esc_url( $posts_page );
			if ( 'list' === $parsed_args['style'] ) {
				$output .= "<li class='cat-item-all'><a href='$posts_page'>$show_option_all</a></li>";
			} else {
				$output .= "<a href='$posts_page'>$show_option_all</a>";
			}
		}

		if ( empty( $parsed_args['current_category'] ) && ( is_category() || is_tax() || is_tag() ) ) {
			$current_term_object = get_queried_object();
			if ( $current_term_object && $parsed_args['taxonomy'] === $current_term_object->taxonomy ) {
				$parsed_args['current_category'] = get_queried_object_id();
			}
		}

		if ( $parsed_args['hierarchical'] ) {
			$depth = $parsed_args['depth'];
		} else {
			$depth = -1; // Flat.
		}
		$output .= walk_category_tree( $categories, $depth, $parsed_args );
	}

	if ( $parsed_args['title_li'] && 'list' === $parsed_args['style']
		&& ( ! empty( $categories ) || ! $parsed_args['hide_title_if_empty'] )
	) {
		$output .= '</ul></li>';
	}

	/**
	 * Filters the HTML output of a taxonomy list.
	 *
	 * @since 2.1.0
	 *
	 * @param string       $output HTML output.
	 * @param array|string $args   An array or query string of taxonomy-listing arguments. See
	 *                             wp_list_categories() for information on accepted arguments.
	 */
	$html = apply_filters( 'wp_list_categories', $output, $args );

	if ( $parsed_args['echo'] ) {
		echo $html;
	} else {
		return $html;
	}
}

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Hooks



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Changelog

Changelog
Version Description
6.1.0 Default value of the 'use_desc_for_title' argument was changed from 1 to 0.
4.4.0 The current_category argument was modified to optionally accept an array of values.
2.1.0 Introduced.

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User Contributed Notes

  1. Skip to note 1 content
    Contributed by Codex

    Display Categories Assigned to a Post

    Display the categories (or terms from other taxonomies) assigned to a post ordered by parent-child category relationship. Similar to the function get_the_category_list() which orders the categories by name. This example must be used inside the loop.

    $taxonomy = 'category';
    
    // Get the term IDs assigned to post.
    $post_terms = wp_get_object_terms( $post->ID, $taxonomy, array( 'fields' => 'ids' ) );
    
    // Separator between links.
    $separator = ', ';
    
    if ( ! empty( $post_terms ) && ! is_wp_error( $post_terms ) ) {
    
    	$term_ids = implode( ',' , $post_terms );
    
    	$terms = wp_list_categories( array(
    		'title_li' => '',
    		'style'    => 'none',
    		'echo'     => false,
    		'taxonomy' => $taxonomy,
    		'include'  => $term_ids
    	) );
    
    	$terms = rtrim( trim( str_replace( '<br />',  $separator, $terms ) ), $separator );
    
    	// Display post categories.
    	echo  $terms;
    }
  2. Skip to note 2 content
    Contributed by Codex

    Include or Exclude Categories

    To sort categories alphabetically and include only the categories with IDs of 16, 3, 9 and 5, you could write the following code:

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby' => 'name',
    		'include' => array( 3, 5, 9, 16 )
    	) ); ?> 
    </ul>

    The following example displays category links sorted by name, shows the number of posts for each category, and excludes the category with the ID of 10 from the list.

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby'    => 'name',
    		'show_count' => true,
    		'exclude'    => array( 10 )
    	) ); ?> 
    </ul>
  3. Skip to note 3 content
    Contributed by Codex

    Display or Hide the List Heading

    The title_li parameter sets or hides a title or heading for the category list generated by wp_list_categories. It defaults to ‘(__(‘Categories’)’, i.e. it displays the word “Categories” as the list’s heading. If the parameter is set to a null or empty value, no heading is displayed. The following example code excludes categories with IDs 4 and 7 and hides the list heading:

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'exclude'  => array( 4,7 ),
    		'title_li' => ''
    	) ); ?>
    </ul>

    In the following example, only Categories with IDs 9, 5, and 23 are included in the list and the heading text has been changed to the word “Poetry”, with a heading style of :

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'include'  => array( 5, 9, 23 ),
    		'title_li' => '<h2>' . __( 'Poetry', 'textdomain' ) . '</h2>'
    	) ); ?> 
    </ul>
  4. Skip to note 5 content
    Contributed by Codex

    Remove Parentheses from Category Counts

    When show_count=1, each category count is surrounded by parentheses. In order to remove the parentheses without modifying core WordPress files, use the following code.

    $variable = wp_list_categories( array(
    	'echo' => false,
    	'show_count' => true,
    	'title_li' => '<h2>' . __( 'Categories', 'textdomain' ) . '</h2>'
    ) );
    
    $variable = preg_replace( '~\((\d+)\)(?=\s*+<)~', '$1', $variable );
    echo $variable;
  5. Skip to note 6 content
    Contributed by Codex

    Display Terms in a custom taxonomy

    With Version 3.0 the taxonomy parameter was added to enable wp_list_categories() function to list Custom Taxonomies. This example list the terms in the taxonomy genre:

    // List terms in a given taxonomy using wp_list_categories (also useful as a widget if using a PHP Code plugin)
    
    $taxonomy     = 'genre';
    $orderby      = 'name'; 
    $show_count   = false;
    $pad_counts   = false;
    $hierarchical = true;
    $title        = '';
    
    $args = array(
      'taxonomy'     => $taxonomy,
      'orderby'      => $orderby,
      'show_count'   => $show_count,
      'pad_counts'   => $pad_counts,
      'hierarchical' => $hierarchical,
      'title_li'     => $title
    );
    ?>
    
    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( $args ); ?>
    </ul>
  6. Skip to note 8 content
    Contributed by Codex

    Only Show Children of a Category

    The following example code generates category links, sorted by ID, only for the children of the category with ID 8; it shows the number of posts per category and hides category descriptions from the title attribute of the generated links. Note: If there are no posts in a parent Category, the parent Category will not display.

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby'            => 'id',
    		'show_count'         => true,
    		'use_desc_for_title' => false,
    		'child_of'           => 8
    	) ); ?>
    </ul>
  7. Skip to note 9 content
    Contributed by Codex

    Display Categories with RSS Feed Links

    The following example generates Category links sorted by name, shows the number of posts per Category, and displays links to the RSS feed for each Category.

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby'    => 'name',
    		'show_count' => true,
    		'feed'       => 'RSS'
    	) ); ?>
    </ul>

    To replace the rss link with a feed icon, you could write:

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby'    => 'name',
    		'show_count' => true,
    		'feed_image' => '/images/rss.gif'
    	) ); ?>
    </ul>
  8. Skip to note 10 content
    Contributed by Codex

    Markup and Styling of Category Lists

    By default, wp_list_categories() generates nested unordered lists (ul) within a single list item (li) titled “Categories”.

    You can remove the outermost item and list by setting the title_li parameter to an empty string. You’ll need to wrap the output in an ordered list (ol) or unordered list yourself (see the examples above). If you don’t want list output at all, set the style parameter to none.

    You can style the output with these CSS selectors :

     li.categories { ... }  /* outermost list item */
     li.cat-item { ... }
     li.cat-item-7 { ... }  /* category ID #7, etc */
     li.current-cat { ... }
     li.current-cat-parent { ... }
     ul.children { ... }
  9. Skip to note 11 content
    Contributed by nossfloda

    ‘include’ is missing from the parameter list.

You must log in before being able to contribute a note or feedback.