WordPress V5.0+Template Tag Reference Guide as of Version 5.2

If no parameter is passed, this tag builds a predictably-structured body CSS class depending on the context of the page or post. If you do pass a parameter, it assigns that value or values as a class for that body tag. This can allow you much finer control over CSS coding, as it gives you more targeted and specific class-naming information you can hook into for styling. For instance, if you wanted to style post ID 43 with a blue background, but leave all others without a background, using this tag in your template allows you to simply add a rule to your CSS to control this:  body.postid-43 { background-color: #0000FF; }. This tag is most often used in the header.php's HTML body tag.

The echoed class attribute may include one or more of the following values for the class attribute, dependent upon the pageview:

• rtl
• home
• blog
• archive
• date
• search
• paged
• attachment
• error404
• single postid-(id)
• single-(post_type)
• page-id-(page_id)
• attachmentid-(id)
• attachment-(mime-type)
• author
• author-(user_nicename)
• category
• category-(slug)
• tag
• tag-(slug)
• page-parent
• page-child parent-pageid-(id)
• page-template page-template-(template file name)
• search-results
• search-no-results
• logged-in
• paged-(page number)
• single-paged-(page number)
• page-paged-(page number)
• category-paged-(page number)
• tag-paged-(page number)
• date-paged-(page number)
• author-paged-(page number)
• search-paged-(page number)
• tax-(taxonomy name) (since 3.1)
• term-(term name) (since 3.1)
• admin-bar (since 3.1)
• custom-background (since 3.3)

<?php body_class($class); ?>

Retrieve archive link content based on predefined or custom code. The format can be one of four styles. The 'link' for head element, 'option' for use in the select element, 'html' for use in list (either ol or ul HTML elements). Custom content is also supported using the before and after parameters. The 'link' format uses the link HTML element with the archives relationship. The before and after parameters are not used. The text parameter is used to describe the link. The 'option' format uses the option HTML element for use in select element. The value is the url parameter and the before and after parameters are used between the text description. The 'html' format, which is the default, uses the li HTML element for use in the list HTML elements. The before parameter is before the link and the after parameter is after the closing link. The custom format uses the before parameter before the link ('a' HTML element) and the after parameter after the closing link tag. If the above three values for the format are not used, then custom format is assumed.

<?php get_archives_link($url, $text, $format, $before, $after); ?>

Returns URL to move a post to the trash as string value. Can be used within the WordPress loop or outside of it. Can be used with pages, posts, attachments, and revisions.

<?php get_delete_post_link($id, $force_delete); ?>

Returns edit post url as string value. Can be used within the WordPress loop or outside of it. Can be used with pages, posts, attachments, and revisions.

<?php get_edit_post_link($id, $context); ?>

This creates a link to the next image attached to the current post.

<?php next_image_link($size, $text); ?>

Used on single post permalink pages, this template tag displays a link to the next post which exists in chronological order from the current post. This tag must be used in The Loop.

<?php next_post_link($format, $link, $in_same_cat, $excluded_categories); ?>

Prints a link to the next set of posts within the current query. Because post queries are usually sorted in reverse chronological order, next_posts_link() usually points to older entries (toward the end of the set) and prev_posts_link() usually points to newer entries (toward the beginning of the set).

<?php next_posts_link($label, $max_pages); ?>

WordPress theme authors who want to have finer css control options for their post styling have the post_class function available. When the post_class function is added to a tag within the loop, for example  <div id="post" <?php post_class(); ?> >, it will print out and add various post-related classes to the div tag. This function is typically used in the index.php, single.php, and other template files that feature hierarchical post listings.

The post_class may include one or more of the following values for the class attribute, dependent upon the pageview:

• .post-id
• .post
• .attachment
• .sticky
• .hentry (hAtom microformat pages)
• .category-ID
• .category-name
• .tag-name
• .format-name

<?php post_class(); ?>

Whether post requires password and correct password has been provided. Returns false if a password is not required or the correct password cookie is present, true otherwise.

<?php post_password_required($post); ?>

Displays or returns the title of the post when on a single post page (permalink page). This tag can be useful for displaying post titles outside The Loop.

<?php post_type_archive_title($prefix, $display); ?>

Displays links for next and previous pages. Useful for providing "paged" navigation of index, category and archive pages. For displaying next and previous pages of posts see instead next_posts_link() and previous_posts_link(). For displaying next and previous post navigation on individual posts, see instead next_post_link() and previous_post_link().

<?php posts_nav_link($sep, $prelabel, $nextlabel); ?>

This creates a link to the previous image attached to the current post.

<?php previous_image_link($size, $text); ?>

Used on single post permalink pages, this template tag displays a link to the previous post which exists in chronological order from the current post. This tag must be used in The Loop

<?php next_post_link($format, $link, $in_same_cat, $excluded_categories); ?>

Prints a link to the previous set of posts within the current query. Because post queries are usually sorted in reverse chronological order, next_posts_link() usually points to older entries (toward the end of the set) and prev_posts_link() usually points to newer entries (toward the beginning of the set).

<?php previous_posts_link($label, $max_pages); ?>

Displays or returns the title of the post when on a single post page (permalink page). This tag can be useful for displaying post titles outside The Loop.

<?php single_posts_title($prefix, $display); ?>

Displays the Sticky Posts class on a post if applicable. This tag must be within The Loop.

<?php sticky_class(); ?>

Displays a link to the category or categories a post belongs to. This tag must be used within The Loop.

<?php the_category($separator, $parents, $post_id); ?>

Display the post categories in the feed.

<?php the_category_rss($type); ?>

Displays the contents of the current post. This tag must be within The_Loop.

If the quicktag <!--more--> is used in a post to designate the "cut-off" point for the post to be excerpted, the_content() tag will only show the excerpt up to the <!--more--> quicktag point on non-single/non-permalink post pages. By design, the_content() tag includes a parameter for formatting the <!--more--> content and look, which creates a link to "continue reading" the full post.

• No whitespaces are allowed before the "more" in the <!--more--> quicktag. In other words <!-- more --> will not work!
• The <!--more--> quicktag will not operate and is ignored in Templates where just one post is displayed, such as single.php.

<?php the_content($more_link_text, $stripteaser); ?>

Display the post content for the feed.

For encoding the html or the $encode_html parameter, there are three possible values. '0' will make urls footnotes and use make_url_footnote(). '1' will encode special characters and automatically display all of the content. The value of '2' will strip all HTML tags from the content.

Also note that you cannot set the amount of words and not set the html encoding. If that is the case, then the html encoding will default to 2, which will strip all HTML tags.

To restrict the amount of words of the content, you can use the cut parameter. If the content is less than the amount, then there won't be any dots added to the end. If there is content left over, then dots will be added and the rest of the content will be removed.

<?php the_content_rss($more_link_text, $stripteaser, $more_file, $cut, $encode_html); ?>

Displays the excerpt of the current post with [...] at the end, which is not a "read more" link. If you do not provide an explicit excerpt to a post (in the post editor's optional excerpt field), it will display an automatic excerpt which refers to the first 55 words of the post's content. Also in the latter case, HTML tags and graphics are stripped from the excerpt's content. This tag must be within The Loop.

Note: If the current post is an attachment, such as in the attachment.php and image.php template loops, then the attachment caption is displayed. Captions do not include the excerpt [...] marks.

Sometimes it is more meaningful to use only the_content() function. the_content() will decide what to display according to whether <!--more--> tag was used. The <!--more--> tag splits post/page into two parts: only content before the tag should be displayed in listing. Remember that <!--more--> is (of course) ignored when showing single post/page.

<?php the_excerpt(); ?>

Display the post excerpt for the feed.

<?php the_excerpt_rss(); ?>

Displays the numeric ID of the current post. This tag must be within The Loop. Note: This function displays the ID of the post, to return the ID use get_the_ID().

<?php the_ID(); ?>

This is a simple built-in function for displaying custom fields for the current post, known as the "post-meta" (stored in the wp_postmeta table). It formats the data into an unordered list. It must be used from within The Loop or in a theme file that handles data from a single post (e.g. single.php). the_meta() will ignore meta_keys (i.e. field names) that begin with an underscore.

<?php the_meta(); ?>

Used on single post permalink pages, this template tag displays a "URL shortening" link for the current post. By default, this will mean the URL has a format of /?p=1234, and will only appear if pretty permalinks are enabled.

However, this feature is limited by design and intended to be leveraged by plugins that may offer links in a different format, a custom format, or even a format provided by a third-party URL shortening service. Refer to get_permalink() if you want to return the permalink to a post for use in PHP.

This tag can be used outside of The Loop.

Note: This function outputs the complete shortlink for the post, to return the shortlink use wp_get_shortlink().

<?php the_shortlink($text, $title, $before, $after); ?>

This template tag displays a link to the tag or tags a post belongs to. If no tags are associated with the current entry, nothing is displayed. This tag should be used within The Loop.

<?php the_shortlink($before, $sep, $after); ?>

Displays or returns the title of the current post. This tag must be within The Loop. If the post is protected or private, this will be noted by the words "Protected: " or "Private: " prepended to the title.

<?php the_title($before, $after, $echo); ?>

Displays or returns the title of the current post. It somewhat duplicates the functionality of the_title(), but provides a 'clean' version of the title for use in HTML attributes by stripping HTML tags and converting certain characters (including quotes) to their character entity equivalent; it also uses query-string style parameters. This tag must be within The Loop.

<?php the_title_attribute($before, $after, $echo); ?>

Display the post title in the feed.

<?php the_title_rss(); ?>

Displays page-links for paginated posts (i.e. includes the <!--nextpage--> Quicktag one or more times). Arguments are passed in as either an array or a query string. This tag must be within The Loop.

<?php wp_link_pages($args); ?>

If the post is protected and the visitor is not an admin, then “Protected” will be displayed before the post title. If the post is private, then “Private” will be located before the post title.

<?php get_the_title($post); ?>