I have a category, called events. It is assigned to one post. So I created the following loop:

$args = array ('category_name' => 'events', 'posts_per_page' => 4, 'orderby' => 'date', 'order' => 'DESC' );
$category_posts = new WP_Query($args);

if ($category_posts->have_posts()) {
  while ($category_posts->have_posts()) {
    $category_posts->the_post();
    var_dump($category_posts->the_post());

    ?>
      <div class="col-md-6">
        <?php $category_posts->the_post_thumbnail(array('class' => 'events-image')); ?>
      </div>
      <div class="col-md-6">
        <h4><?php echo $category_posts->the_title(); ?></h4>
        <span class="date"><?php echo date('M j, Y', $category_posts->get_the_date()); ?></span>
        <p><?php echo implode(' ', array_slice(str_word_count($category_posts->the_content(), 2), 0,120)); ?> [...]</p>
      </div>
    <?php
  }
}

Notice the var_dump($category_posts->the_post()); it comes into here and does this var_dump but the Output is NULL. wtf?

Whats confusing is it has posts, its get into the while statement but the $category_posts->the_post() is null? This makes little to no sense at all.

Update 1

• Fixed array of arguments suggested by commenter. was order_by, changed to orderby

I have a category, called events. It is assigned to one post. So I created the following loop:

$args = array ('category_name' => 'events', 'posts_per_page' => 4, 'orderby' => 'date', 'order' => 'DESC' );
$category_posts = new WP_Query($args);

if ($category_posts->have_posts()) {
  while ($category_posts->have_posts()) {
    $category_posts->the_post();
    var_dump($category_posts->the_post());

    ?>
      <div class="col-md-6">
        <?php $category_posts->the_post_thumbnail(array('class' => 'events-image')); ?>
      </div>
      <div class="col-md-6">
        <h4><?php echo $category_posts->the_title(); ?></h4>
        <span class="date"><?php echo date('M j, Y', $category_posts->get_the_date()); ?></span>
        <p><?php echo implode(' ', array_slice(str_word_count($category_posts->the_content(), 2), 0,120)); ?> [...]</p>
      </div>
    <?php
  }
}

Notice the var_dump($category_posts->the_post()); it comes into here and does this var_dump but the Output is NULL. wtf?

Whats confusing is it has posts, its get into the while statement but the $category_posts->the_post() is null? This makes little to no sense at all.

Update 1

• Fixed array of arguments suggested by commenter. was order_by, changed to orderby

• wp-query
• theme-development
• loop

• order_by should be orderby – Pieter Goosen Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 7:46
• @PieterGoosen Changew as made, still it gives me NULL – TheWebs Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 7:49
• No its a regular category. And every day category you would see on a post. the post in question even has said category assigned to it, so I should see one post. – TheWebs Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 7:54
• You then have to check your post status and whether or not a post is password protected and not private. – Pieter Goosen Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 8:06
• 1 Would be nice if you can share your solution with us :-) – Pieter Goosen Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 8:22

1 Answer 1

As per wordpress codex, the_post() "Iterate the post index in The Loop. Retrieves the next post, sets up the post, sets the 'in the loop' property to true." This all occurs within the post object itself.

If you only have 1 post, and run the_post twice, you'll reach the end of the post count. In this case, even doing a var_dump of the_post still runs the function, which is why you're not seeing results below...you've already reached the end of the loop before you start trying to output data.

Also "This function does not return any values."

Meaning your var_dump will always return null, because you're dumping the results of a function which returns nothing.

If you want useful results, var_dump($category_posts) will return the post object, which will contain any posts found and other information. ->the_post is just a method of the post object itself.