How to Filter the Loop in WordPress

Are you looking for a way to display filtered content to your users? While there’s probably a plugin for this, we have created a quick code snippet that you can use to filter the loop in WordPress.

If you don’t want to show all your posts, you can filter the Loop, for example in a widget with featured content that you only want to show posts from the category ‘Featured’.

Simply put query_posts before the loop. All the available filters can be found in the WordPress documentation.

The WordPress function query_posts lets you filter the loop, which makes it easy to pick which posts you want to display on the page.

Instructions:

All you have to do is add this code to your theme’s index.php file:

query_posts('showposts=5&category_name=featured');
if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
	<h3><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
	<?php the_content(); ?>
<?php
endwhile; else:
// No posts.
endif;
wp_reset_query();

Note: If this is your first time adding code snippets in WordPress, then please refer to our guide on how to properly add code snippets in WordPress, so you don’t accidentally break your site.

If you liked this code snippet, please consider checking out our other articles on the site like: 9 best WordPress job board plugins and how to create a contact form in WordPress.