Sorting posts on a WordPress site with custom SQL

February 26, 20232 Views

I have a php function that generates a comma separated list of Post IDs that specify the order those posts should display on my WordPress site.

I’m looking for a place I can insert an SQL query like:

SELECT * FROM wp_posts WHERE ID IN ('1', '2', '3')

Which .php file should I modify? How should I phrase the SQL?

Post Views: 2

3 comments

Anonymous says:

February 26, 2023 at 7:13 pm
Paste your php function in file (root wordpress folder)/wp-content/themes/(name of your theme)/functions.php
SQL query should be like.
```
$sql=$wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM wp_posts WHERE ID IN ('1', '2', '3');");
$results=$wpdb->get_results($sql);          
echo ">>>>".$result[0]->something."<br />";//blah blah...
```
WoW,i did not mention $wpdp as global,still code was working fine on my system!,anyways
i would suggest you write “global $wpdb” in your function.

Now the main question is from where should you call this function;
you have to call it from theme/(your theme)/index.php

Try figuring out how the posts are generated in your current theme,and you might get what you need to do!
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Anonymous says:

February 26, 2023 at 7:13 pm
First off you should use wp_query for this. It is designed to query posts.
```
<?php
$args = array(
    'post__in' => array ( 1,2,3) //the Ids
);
$query = new WP_Query($args);
if ($query->have_posts()){
    while ($query->have_posts()) {
        $query->the_post();
        echo get_the_ID().'<br/>';
    }

} else {
    echo 'no posts found';
}
```
About the placement
I advise to do it in a custom template, make a simple template with the code above, create a page assign it that template and make the page private.
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global $wpdb; $results = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->posts} WHERE ID IN (1, 2, 3) ORDER BY ID");

You can use that in your theme’s functions.php file.