Combining multiple RSS feeds using fetch_feed

1 comment

1. You can technically pass multiple feed URLs to fetch_feed() as an array, and it’ll grab them all at once. But the return is a total mess, and I couldn’t personally figure out how to parse it.

   If nobody else knows how to do this with fetch_feed(), I can offer a solution using the SimplePie class (which fetch_feed actually uses anyway). The SimplePie class has some helper methods for parsing the return, and they make things pretty easy.

   Try something like:

   // Contains the SimplePie class
   require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/class-feed.php');
   
   // New class instance
   $feed = new SimplePie();
   
   // You feed URLs
   $feed->set_feed_url(array('http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss', 'http://cuteoverload.com/feed/'));
   
   // Do it!
   $feed->init();
   $feed->handle_content_type();
   
   // Loop the results
   foreach($feed->get_items() as $item) {
   
       echo $item->get_title();
       echo '<hr/>';
   
   }
   

   Additional SimplePie methods include get_permalink() and get_description().

   The only downside to this approach is that is SimplePie is ever phased out of WordPress in favor of another class, this’ll break.

   UPDATE

   As @Rarst pointed out in the comments, you don’t need to access SimplePie directly. You can use its methods on the object that fetch_feed() returns. So the answer is much simpler than I thought:

   $feed = fetch_feed(array('http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss', 'http://cuteoverload.com/feed/'));
   
   // Loop the results
   foreach($feed->get_items() as $item) {
   
       echo $item->get_title();
       echo '<hr/>';
   
   }
   

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