Retrieve and Get WordPress Post ID Outside the Loop as PHP Variable
In WordPress, each post has unique anchor identifier in the form of numeric post ID. When inside the Loop, where WordPress processes and displays each of the posts to be displayed on the current page and formats them according to how they match specified criteria within The Loop tags, template tag the_ID can be used to easily display the post’s ID inside the post. Alternatively, inside the the_content filter, declare $id global and use $id to retrieve the post ID.
the_ID template tag can be used in the following format:
<?php the_ID(); ?>
Outside the Loop or out of the context of the post, such as in header of footer and even sidebar area in the templates of WordPress’s blog, the_ID() cannot be used as a function. Instead, $post->ID will be used to return the post ID (the syntax can also be used inside the Loop of the post by declaring $post as global). $post is a global object that holds various information about the posts displayed on the page. So $post->ID will return the post ID of the post. It the $post is used inside a function, the $post has to be declared as a global variable. For example:
// Works inside of the Loop
function function_name() {
global $post;
$thePostID = $post->ID;
}
or:
// Works in single post outside of the Loop
function function_name() {
global $wp_query;
$thePostID = $wp_query->post->ID;
}
$post->ID can be called directly outside of the Loop too in a single post template, such as <?php echo $post->ID ?> will print display the post’s ID number.
In the multiple posts view page such as index page or archive page, it’s possible to retrieve the get the latest or earliest post ID of all the posts displayed on the page by using an ORDER BY clause to order the posts by date, and then set the number of record to LIMIT 1.
Just for example, and there are various way to use the query:
//Get the latest post ID number
$post->ID ORDER BY post_date ASC LIMIT 1
//Get the earliest post ID number
$post->ID ORDER BY post_date DESC LIMIT 1
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October 19th, 2009 19:51
thanks. this helped a lot to set up my menu!
October 4th, 2009 00:56
Thanks a lot, this has solved all of my current problems
September 3rd, 2009 23:36
Many thanks, it worked!
August 31st, 2009 05:13
[...] is not the post being displayed. The trick was finding the post ID but fortunately this article, Retrieve and Get WordPress Post ID Outside the Loop as PHP Variable, turned out to be immensely [...]
August 28th, 2009 14:56
can anybody guide me how to display post tag wise. i have added two tags in posts 1)xxx and 2)www. i want to make two columns one is displayin post with tag xxx and other displaying post with tag www.
August 7th, 2009 13:21
Hi, I am Testing
March 2nd, 2009 00:01
Thanks for the tip.
February 26th, 2009 02:03
thanks
useful little tips like these are always great 
February 13th, 2009 11:59
awesome, i think this will totally solve a plugin problem with my permalinks…
i will have to subscribe to this site and see what else i get
thanks again
November 21st, 2008 18:40
Yeah, Thanks for this post. I solved my permalink problem with this suggestion
October 13th, 2008 05:36
Thanks for your great blog. I’ve linked you in the links section of my site.
I was actually looking for something like what you mention here, but for Blogger.
What I want is to be able to insert content between posts, but only between Posts 4 thru 9 and not between posts 1 thru 3. Currently I stuck something in the template area but it obviousl appears between every post.
I’m not a programmer, thought I studies it many years ago.
October 9th, 2008 20:56
Thank you for this.
June 18th, 2008 09:34
Thanks for this – this did absolutely what I needed to do.
June 17th, 2008 14:02
Thank you. It works like a charm!
June 16th, 2008 03:27
Forgot Notification of followups. Thanks.
June 16th, 2008 03:27
Hi,
thanks for these informations.
I tried to configure something without any luck and hope you can help me.
I’m using wordpress as a blog and do have a few pictures in every blog.
Now I want to implement a feature like shadowbox to popup the images. To do this automatically, I put a rel=”shadowbox[imageset]” in the anchors of the images.
What do I have to do to put the post-title or ID instead of imageset.
Is something like this possible?
May 6th, 2008 20:02
Thanks for this. You cant believe how long it took me to search for this simple answer! I dont know why you cant find it on wordpress.
April 18th, 2008 18:11
Thanks! That’s just what i am looking for. I want to get post id on the wordpress index (root) page.
October 10th, 2007 21:05
[...] 使用post ID变量可以做到。$post->ID可以返回文章的唯一编号。 [...]
October 6th, 2007 00:09
comment_fashion
September 21st, 2007 07:51
Thanks, using ‘global $id;’ in a filter for my plugin got me the post id I needed.
June 28th, 2007 11:55
Great info. Needed this a few days ago. Will update my code with this direct approach. Thanks.
May 16th, 2007 14:15
Found this through Google. Thanks! You should also enter this into the official WP documentation wiki: http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page
May 3rd, 2007 05:10
Just what I was looking for, thanks!
December 1st, 2006 06:06
This is really good thing to know… I think i’ll try to use this with my blog and limited php knowledge.