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Function Reference/get the category

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Description

Returns an array of objects, one object for each category assigned to the post. This tag may be used outside The Loop by passing a post id as the parameter.

Usage

This function does not display anything; you should access the objects and then echo or otherwise use the desired member variables.

The following example displays the category name of each category assigned to the post (this is like using the_category(), but without linking each category to the category view, and using spaces instead of commas):

<?php
foreach((get_the_category()) as $category) { 
    echo $category->cat_name . ' '; 
} 
?>

Examples

Show Category Images

This outputs category images named after the cat_ID with the alt attribute set to cat_name. You can also use any of the other member variables instead.

<?php 
foreach((get_the_category()) as $category) { 
    echo '<img src="http://example.com/images/' . $category->cat_ID . '.jpg" alt="' . $category->cat_name . '" />'; 
} 
?>

Show the First Category Name Only

<?php
$category = get_the_category(); 
echo $category[0]->cat_name;
?>

(Echoes the first array ([0]) of $category.)

Get the Post Categories From Outside the Loop

<?php
global $post;
$categories = get_the_category($post->ID);
var_dump($categories);
?>

Member Variables

cat_ID: the category id (also stored as 'term_id')
cat_name: the category name (also stored as 'name')
category_nicename: a slug generated from the category name (also stored as 'slug')
category_description: the category description (also stored as 'description')
category_parent: the category id of the current category's parent. '0' for no parents. (also stored as 'parent')
category_count: the number of uses of this category (also stored as 'count')

WordPress.org

Codex

Function Reference/get the category

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