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WordPress

WP_Query::have_posts(): bool

Since
1.5.0
Source
wp-includes/class-wp-query.php:3827

Check whether a WP_Query loop has posts left with have_posts(); true while posts remain, false at the end, when it also fires the loop_end action. Together with the_post() it drives the WordPress loop, for the main query via the global functions or directly on a custom WP_Query.

Determines whether there are more posts available in the loop.

Description

Calls the 'loop_end' action when the loop is complete.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 1.5.0
PHP
7.4–8.6-dev
  • 6.7.7
  • 6.8.8
  • 6.9.7
  • 7.0.4
  • 7.1.0

Present in every tracked release (6.7.7 to 7.1.0), and compiles on PHP 7.4 through 8.6-dev.

Return value

bool
True if posts are available, false if end of the loop.

Code examples

Every example is editable and runs in a real WordPress booted in your browser by WordPress Playground. Press Run, then edit the code: clicking away re-runs it. Nothing is sent anywhere until you do.

Loop over a custom WP_Query

have_posts() advances nothing by itself; it reports whether the_post() has anything left to set up.

$recent = new WP_Query( array(
	'post_type'      => 'post',
	'posts_per_page' => 3,
) );

if ( $recent->have_posts() ) {
	while ( $recent->have_posts() ) {
		$recent->the_post();
		echo '- ', get_the_title(), ' (', get_permalink(), ")\n";
	}
	wp_reset_postdata();
} else {
	echo 'No posts matched.';
}

echo "\nposts returned: ", $recent->post_count, ' of ', $recent->found_posts, ' found';

wp_reset_postdata() restores the global $post that the_post() overwrote.

Performance profile

How much work a call to WP_Query::have_posts() does, and what it touches: the algorithmic scaling, the Zend instruction count per call across PHP versions, the hooks it hands control to, and the core code that calls it. Measured from the compiled opcodes, not a stopwatch, so every number is identical on any machine running the same PHP version, and every function in core is ranked by cost.

Cost class
Trivial

Touches nothing outside its own arguments.

Scaling
Constant

No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.

Instructions
6–26

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 36.

Plugin surface
2 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'loop_end', 'loop_no_results' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by
0

Nothing in core calls this; the cost is only what you spend yourself.

What it touches

  • hookthird-party callbacksdo_action_ref_array()called directly

What one call costs · 3 distinct outcomes

One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost WP_Query::have_posts() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
always6–19none
always23–26do_action()
always25->rewind_posts()

Across PHP versions

Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 36 instructions, 6–26 executed per call, 4 branches. The work does not change between versions.

An instruction is not a fixed amount of time, so a matching count is not necessarily the same speed; what it rules out is a difference in the work itself.

Hooks and filters fired · 2

2 hooks fire while WP_Query::have_posts() runs, in this order:

  1. do_action( loop_end )actionline 3838 (+11 into the body)

    Fires once the loop has ended.

  2. do_action( loop_no_results )actionline 3852 (+25 into the body)

    Fires if no results are found in a post query.

Uses · 3

Source code

View on Trac View on GitHub 

	public function have_posts() {		if ( $this->current_post + 1 < $this->post_count ) {			return true;		} elseif ( $this->current_post + 1 === $this->post_count && $this->post_count > 0 ) {			/**			 * Fires once the loop has ended.			 *			 * @since 2.0.0			 *			 * @param WP_Query $query The WP_Query instance (passed by reference).			 */			do_action_ref_array( 'loop_end', array( &$this ) ); 			// Do some cleaning up after the loop.			$this->rewind_posts();		} elseif ( 0 === $this->post_count ) {			$this->before_loop = false; 			/**			 * Fires if no results are found in a post query.			 *			 * @since 4.9.0			 *			 * @param WP_Query $query The WP_Query instance.			 */			do_action( 'loop_no_results', $this );		} 		$this->in_the_loop = false;		return false;	}

Changelog

Introduced in 1.5.0. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 7.1.0.

  1. 6.7.7
  2. 6.8.8
  3. 6.9.7
  4. 7.0.4
  5. 7.1.0

Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.

About this page

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Generated from the wordpress-develop 6.8.8 tag, from src/wp-includes/class-wp-query.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
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