How to Output Custom Taxonomy Terms in Your WordPress Templates

WordPress, a robust and flexible CMS, allows developers to create highly custom client solutions. One of the powerful features WordPress offers is the use of custom taxonomies and terms to organize content. In this article, we’ll explore how to output custom taxonomy terms in your WordPress templates, which is crucial when creating custom themes for your clients.

Understanding Taxonomies and Terms

Before diving into the code, it’s best to understand what taxonomies and terms are. Taxonomies in WordPress are used to group posts and custom post types together. They come in two forms: categories and tags, but you can also create your custom taxonomies. Terms are the items within a taxonomy; for instance, the categories are terms within the ‘category’ taxonomy.

Fetching and Outputting a Single Term

To fetch and output a single term associated with a post, we can use various WordPress functions. Here’s a snippet using the get_the_terms function along with array_shift to fetch the first term of a custom taxonomy called ‘markets’:

Using get_the_terms:

// Assuming you have a WP_Query object $query
if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
        $query->the_post();

        $terms = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'markets' );

        if ( $terms && ! is_wp_error( $terms ) ) {
            $term = array_shift( $terms );  // Taking the first term
            $term_info = get_term( $term, 'markets' );

            if ( ! is_wp_error( $term_info ) ) {
                echo $term_info->name;  // Output the term name
            }
        }
    }
    wp_reset_postdata();  // Restore original Post Data
}

In the above code snippet, we are fetching all terms associated with the current post in the ‘markets’ taxonomy using get_the_terms, then using array_shift to get the first term, and echo to output the term name.

Below are code snippets demonstrating how to use wp_get_post_terms functions to retrieve the current term

Using wp_get_post_terms:

// Assuming you have a WP_Query object $query
if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
        $query->the_post();

        $terms = wp_get_post_terms( get_the_ID(), 'markets', array('fields' => 'names') );
        if ( ! is_wp_error( $terms ) && ! empty( $terms ) ) {
            echo $terms[0];  // Output the name of the first term
        }
    }
    wp_reset_postdata();  // Restore original Post Data
}

Listing Multiple Terms

When a post is associated with multiple terms, you might want to list all of them. Below is a code snippet using get_the_terms and implode to fetch and output all terms associated with a post in a comma-separated list:

Using wp_get_post_terms:

// Assuming you have a WP_Query object $query
if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
        $query->the_post();

        $terms = wp_get_post_terms( get_the_ID(), 'markets', array('fields' => 'names') );
        if ( ! is_wp_error( $terms ) && ! empty( $terms ) ) {
            $term_list = implode( ', ', $terms );  // Join term names into a comma-separated string
            echo $term_list;
        }
    }
    wp_reset_postdata();  // Restore original Post Data
}

In this snippet, get_the_terms fetches all the terms and implode joins them into a comma-separated string, which is then output using echo.

Using get_the_terms:

// Assuming you have a WP_Query object $query
if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
        $query->the_post();

        $terms = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'markets' );
        if ( ! is_wp_error( $terms ) && ! empty( $terms ) ) {
            $term_names = array_map( function( $term ) {
                return $term->name;
            }, $terms );
            $term_list = implode( ', ', $term_names );  // Join term names into a comma-separated string
            echo $term_list;
        }
    }
    wp_reset_postdata();  // Restore original Post Data
}

Linking Terms to Taxonomy Pages

Creating links to the taxonomy pages of terms can provide a better navigational experience for users. Below are snippets to output one term and multiple terms with links to their taxonomy pages:

Outputting One Term:

// Assuming you have a WP_Query object $query
if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
        $query->the_post();

        $terms = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'markets' );
        if ( $terms && ! is_wp_error( $terms ) ) {
            $term = array_shift( $terms );  // Taking the first term
            $term_link = get_term_link( $term );
            if ( ! is_wp_error( $term_link ) ) {
                echo "<a href='{$term_link}'>{$term->name}</a>";
            }
        }
    }
    wp_reset_postdata();  // Restore original Post Data
}

Outputting Multiple Terms:

// Assuming you have a WP_Query object $query
if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
        $query->the_post();

        $terms = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'markets' );
        if ( $terms && ! is_wp_error( $terms ) ) {
            $term_links = array();
            foreach ( $terms as $term ) {
                $term_link = get_term_link( $term );
                if ( ! is_wp_error( $term_link ) ) {
                    $term_links[] = "<a href='{$term_link}'>{$term->name}</a>";
                }
            }
            $term_list = implode( ', ', $term_links );  // Join term links into a comma-separated string
            echo $term_list;
        }
    }
    wp_reset_postdata();  // Restore original Post Data
}

Conclusion

As a WordPress developer, it is essential to know how to output custom taxonomy terms in your templates. This skill is particularly important when creating custom themes for clients. The following code snippets demonstrate various methods to fetch and output terms, both singularly and in lists. Additionally, you can create links to taxonomy pages for better navigation. By mastering these techniques, you can deliver more organized and navigable websites to your clients, showcasing your expertise in custom WordPress development.

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