How to see if a post exists based on a meta value

3 comments

1. if you dont know the post id then

   you can use custom wordpress query to check post meta according to key like

   global $wpdb;
   $wpdb->get_results( "select * from $wpdb->postmeta where meta_key = 'pictureID' " );
   

   And then you can get all results with post id and then get that post data.

   Hope this helps 😉

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2. You can use a standard WP_Query to return posts by meta_key using the meta_query argument and EXISTS compare type.

   // query for all posts with the pictureID meta key set
   $args = array(
       'post_type'  => 'post', // or your_custom_post_type
       'meta_query' => array(
           array(
               'key'     => 'pictureID',
               'compare' => 'EXISTS',
           ),
       ),
   }
   
   // create a custom query
   $my_query = new WP_Query( $args );
   
   // loop over your query, creating a custom The Loop
   if ( $my_query->have_posts() ): while ( $my_query->have_posts() ): $my_query->the_post();
       // $post is now posts that have a pictureId meta value
   endwhile; endif;
   
   // reset $post
   wp_reset_postdata();
   

   If you want to quickly grab a random post_id that has this meta_key set you can go to the database directly (bypassing caching, etc).

   global $wpdb;
   
   // SQL statement to fetch the post_id using a meta_key and a published post
   $sql = <<<SQL
       SELECT post_id 
       FROM {$wpdb->postmeta} pm 
       JOIN {$wpdb->posts} p 
         ON p.ID = pm.post_id 
           AND post_status = 'publish' 
           AND post_type = 'post'
       WHERE meta_key = 'pictureID' 
         AND meta_value != ''
         AND post_id != %d
       ORDER BY RAND() 
       LIMIT 1
   SQL;
   
   // exclude the current post by replacing %d with the current ID
   $sql = $wpdb->prepare( $sql, $post->ID );
   
   // use get_var() to return the post_id
   $post_id = $wpdb->get_var( $sql );
   

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3. first try to get meta value for post get_post_meta()

   $postMetaValue=get_post_meta($postId,"meta_key",true);
   if($postMetaValue=='pictureID')
     {
        //do as you want
     }
   

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