Force index.php have_posts() loop to exit if no sticky posts found

3 comments

1. That is because get_option will return an empty array if there are no sticky posts and the query will default to everything.

   $sticky = get_option('sticky_posts');
   if (!empty($sticky)) {
     $args['post__in'] = $sticky;
     $qry = new WP_Query(array('post__in' => $sticky));
     if ($qry->have_posts()) :
       while ($qry->have_posts()) : $qry->the_post();
         echo $post->post_title;
       endwhile;
     endif;
   }
   

   And please don’t use query_posts.

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2. Ask for the existence of sticky posts, before you query the database:

   $stickies = get_option('sticky_posts');
   
   if ( $stickies )
   {
       // fetch posts
   }
   

   And please read When should you use WP_Query vs query_posts() vs get_posts()? 🙂

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3. For starters, before we get to the essential issue, there is never hardly ever a reason to use query_posts. It should be treated as if deprecated – mostly anyway.

   It does not reset, but overwrite the main query after that has already been executed anyway.

   Much rather, use either the get_posts function or a new instance of the WP_Query class:

   $args = array(
       'post__in' => get_option( 'sticky_posts' ),
       'post_status' => 'publish'
   );
   
   $stickies = new WP_Query( $args );
   
   if ( $stickies->have_posts() ) {
       while ( $stickies->have_posts() ) {
           $stickies->the_post();
           // do something
       }
   }
   
   // reset the $post global to its previous state
   wp_reset_postdata();
   

   If, regardless of whether sticky posts were found, you’d like to alter the main query to return nothing (on the home page), make use of the pre_get_posts action:

   function wpse_96219_nothing_on_home( $query ) {
       if ( is_home() ) {
           $query->set( 'posts_per_page', 0 );
       }
   }
   add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'wpse_96219_nothing_on_home' );
   

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