include and get_template_part

2 comments

1. I was also wondering about this recently and the article that I found very useful was this:

   How to Include and Require Files and Templates in WordPress

   The author of the article follows these guidelines:

   • In theme development, I always use get_template_part().
   • In plugin development, I almost always use include_once() and I generally use it once in a function. You can see this in my boilerplates.
   • If the plugin I’m writing is going to be used on a very large site, then I use require_once().

   UPDATE

   According to another article, using get_template_part() is especially useful when trying to build a child theme, but I guess you already know that:).

   Maybe the best way to know the difference is to check the source code of get_template_part()

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2. get_template_part also allows child themes to override that file and include additional more specific files.

   For example, if you used get_template_part( 'loop', 'single' ) and your theme only has a file named loop.php then a child theme could include a file named loop-single.php that would override your loop.php.

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