single-{$post_type}-{slug}.php for custom post types

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My favorite part of the WordPress template hierarchy is the ability to quickly create template files for pages by slug, without having to edit the page in WordPress to select a template.

We can currently do this:

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page-{slug}.php

But I would like to be able to do this:

single-{post_type}-{slug}.php

So that, for example, in a post type called review, I could make a template for a post called “My Great Review” at single-review-my-great-review.php

Has anybody set this up before? single-{post_type}-{slug}.php

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6 comments

  1. A) The Base in Core

    As you can see in the Codex Template Hierarchy explanation, single-{$post_type}.php is already supported.

    B) Extending the core Hierarchy

    Now there’re gladly some filters and hooks inside /wp-includes/template-loader.php.

    • do_action('template_redirect');
    • apply_filters( 'template_include', $template )
    • AND: a specific filter inside get_query_template( $type, ... ) named: "$type}_template"

    B.1) How it works

    1. Inside the template loader file, the template gets loaded by a query var/wp_query conditional: is_*().
    2. The conditional then triggers (in case of a “single” template): is_single() && $template = get_single_template()
    3. This triggers then get_query_template( $type, $templates ), where $type is single
    4. Then we have the "{$type}_template" filter

    C) The solution

    As we only want to extend the hierarchy with one template that gets loaded before the actual "single-{$object->post_type}.php" template, we’ll intercept the hierarchy and add a new template to the beginning of the templates array.

    // Extend the hierarchy
function add_posttype_slug_template( $templates )
{

    $object = get_queried_object();

    // New 
    $templates[] = "single-{$object->post_type}-{$object->post_name}.php";
    // Like in core
    $templates[] = "single-{$object->post_type}.php";
    $templates[] = "single.php";

    return locate_template( $templates );    
}
// Now we add the filter to the appropriate hook
function intercept_template_hierarchy()
{
    add_filter( 'single_template', 'add_posttype_slug_template', 10, 1 );
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'intercept_template_hierarchy', 20 );

    NOTE: (If you want to use something other than the default objects slug) You’ll have to adjust $slug according to your permalink-structure. Just use whatever you need from the global (object) $post.

    Trac Tickets

    As the above approach is currently not supported (you can only filter the absolute located path this way), here’s a list of trac tickets:

  2. Following the Template Hierarchy image, I don’t see such an option.

    So heres how i’d go about it:

    Solution 1 (Best in my opinion)

    Make a template file and associate it to the review

     <?php
 /*
 Template Name: My Great Review
 */
 ?>

    Adding the template php file in your theme directory, it would appear as a template option in your post’s edit page.

    Solution 2

    This could probably be achieved using template_redirect hook.

    In functions.php file :

     function my_redirect()
 {
      global $post;

      if( get_post_type( $post ) == "my_cpt" && is_single() )
      {
           if( file_exists( get_template_directory() . '/single-my_cpt-' . $post->post_name . '.php' ) )
           {
                include( get_template_directory() . '/single-my_cpt-' . $post->post_name . '.php' );
                exit;
           }
      }
 }
 add_action( 'template_redirect', 'my_redirect' );

    EDIT

    Added file_exists check

  3. The top answer (from 4 years ago) no longer works, but the WordPress codex has the solution here:

    <?php
function add_posttype_slug_template( $single_template )
{
    $object = get_queried_object();
    $single_postType_postName_template = locate_template("single-{$object->post_type}-{$object->post_name}.php");
    if( file_exists( $single_postType_postName_template ) )
    {
        return $single_postType_postName_template;
    } else {
        return $single_template;
    }
}
add_filter( 'single_template', 'add_posttype_slug_template', 10, 1 );
?>

  4. Use Page Templates

    Another approach for scalability would be to duplicate the page template drop-down functionality on the page post type for your custom post type.

    Reusable Code

    Duplication in code is not a good practice. Overtime it can cause severe bloat to a codebase when then make it very difficult for a developer to manage. Instead of creating a template for every single slug, you most likely will need a one-to-many template that can be reused instead of one-to-one post-to-template.

    The Code

    # Define your custom post type string
define('MY_CUSTOM_POST_TYPE', 'my-cpt');

/**
 * Register the meta box
 */
add_action('add_meta_boxes', 'page_templates_dropdown_metabox');
function page_templates_dropdown_metabox(){
    add_meta_box(
        MY_CUSTOM_POST_TYPE.'-page-template',
        __('Template', 'rainbow'),
        'render_page_template_dropdown_metabox',
        MY_CUSTOM_POST_TYPE,
        'side', #I prefer placement under the post actions meta box
        'low'
    );
}

/**
 * Render your metabox - This code is similar to what is rendered on the page post type
 * @return void
 */
function render_page_template_dropdown_metabox(){
    global $post;
    $template = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_wp_page_template', true);
    echo "
        <label class='screen-reader-text' for='page_template'>Page Template</label>
            <select name='_wp_page_template' id='page_template'>
            <option value='default'>Default Template</option>";
            page_template_dropdown($template);
    echo "</select>";
}

/**
 * Save the page template
 * @return void
 */
function save_page_template($post_id){

    # Skip the auto saves
    if ( defined( 'DOING_AUTOSAVE' ) && DOING_AUTOSAVE )
        return;
    elseif ( defined( 'DOING_AJAX' ) && DOING_AJAX )
        return;
    elseif ( defined( 'DOING_CRON' ) && DOING_CRON )
        return;

    # Only update the page template meta if we are on our specific post type
    elseif(MY_CUSTOM_POST_TYPE === $_POST['post_type'])
        update_post_meta($post_id, '_wp_page_template', esc_attr($_POST['_wp_page_template']));
}
add_action('save_post', 'save_page_template');


/**
 * Set the page template
 * @param string $template The determined template from the WordPress brain
 * @return string $template Full path to predefined or custom page template
 */
function set_page_template($template){
    global $post;
    if(MY_CUSTOM_POST_TYPE === $post->post_type){
        $custom_template = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_wp_page_template', true);
        if($custom_template)
            #since our dropdown only gives the basename, use the locate_template() function to easily find the full path
            return locate_template($custom_template);
    }
    return $template;
}
add_filter('single_template', 'set_page_template');

    This is a bit of a late answer, but I thought it would be valuable since no one on the web has documented this approach as far as I can tell. Hope this helps someone out.

  5. In my case, I have Album and Track custom post types linked by an Album taxonomy. I wanted to be able to use different Single templates for the Album and Track posts depending on their Album taxonomy.

    Based on Kaiser’s answer above, I wrote this code. It works well.
    Note. I didn’t need the add_action().

    // Add an additional template option to the template hierarchy
add_filter( 'single_template', 'add_albumtrack_taxslug_template', 10, 1 );
function add_albumtrack_taxslug_template( $orig_template_path )
{
    // at this point, $orig_template_path is an absolute located path to the preferred single template.

    $object = get_queried_object();

    if ( ! (
        // specify another template option only for Album and Track post types.
        in_array( $object->post_type, array( 'gregory-cpt-album','gregory-cpt-track' )) &&
        // check that the Album taxonomy has been registered.
        taxonomy_exists( 'gregory-tax-album' ) &&
        // get the Album taxonomy term for the current post.
        $album_tax = wp_get_object_terms( $object->ID, 'gregory-tax-album' )
        ))
        return $orig_template_path;

    // assemble template name
    // assumption: only one Album taxonomy term per post. we use the first object in the array.
    $template = "single-{$object->post_type}-{$album_tax[0]->slug}.php";
    $template = locate_template( $template );
    return ( !empty( $template ) ? $template : $orig_template_path );
}

    I can now create templates named single-gregory-cpt-track-tax-serendipity.php and single-gregory-cpt-album-tax-serendipity.php and WP will use them automatically; ‘tax-serendipity’ is the slug for the first Album taxonomy term.

    for reference, the ‘single_template’ filter hook is declared in:
    /wp-includes/theme.php: get_query_template()

    Thank you Kaiser for the sample code.

    Cheers,
    Gregory

  6. Update for Brians code, I found that when the dropdown box was not being used the “default” template option was being saved into wp_page_template which caused it to try and find a template called default. this change just checks for the option “default” when saving and deletes the post meta instead (useful if you changed the template option back to default)

    elseif(MY_CUSTOM_POST_TYPE === $_POST['post_type']) {

if ( esc_attr($_POST['_wp_page_template']) === "default" ) :
    delete_post_meta($post_id, '_wp_page_template');
else :
    update_post_meta($post_id, '_wp_page_template', esc_attr($_POST['_wp_page_template']));
endif;
}