How can I save the HTML output of a WP_Query function as a variable?

Question

How can I save the HTML output of the WP_Query function below as a variable?

I.e., save the example generated HTML <a href="https://example.com/my-post/">Example.com</a> as a variable, i.e. $saved_html

The reason I want to save the output as a variable is that I want to be able to save the variable to a custom field, but that's another step.

This is a very old answer that gave me some clues, but is not enough help: WP_Query results stored in variables

    <?php $args = array(
        'date_query' => array(
        'post_parent' => '',
        'post_status' => 'publish',
        'orderby' => 'date',
        'order' => 'DESC',
        'post_type' => 'post',
        'column' => 'post_date',
        'before' => '1 year ago',
        ),
        'posts_per_page' => 1,
    );
    $query = new WP_Query( $args ); ?>
    
        <?php while($query->have_posts()) : $query->the_post(); ?>
            <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
            <?php the_title(); ?></a>
        <?php endwhile; wp_reset_postdata();?>

// save as variable?
// $saved_html = ??

Here's an attempt using output buffering, which doesn't work:

function echoquery() {

ob_start();

$args = array(
// simpified for example
    'post_status' => 'publish',
    'orderby' => 'date',
    'order' => 'DESC',
    'post_type' => 'post',
    'posts_per_page' => 1,
);
$query = new WP_Query( $args );

    while($query->have_posts()) : $query->the_post();
        the_permalink();
        echo '<br />';
        the_title();
    endwhile;

$theoutput = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
return $theoutput;

echo $theoutput;

}

Edit 1/8/25 This works:

$args = array(
        'post_status' => 'publish',
    'orderby' => 'date',
    'order' => 'DESC',
    'post_type' => 'post',
        'posts_per_page' => 1,
);
$query = new WP_Query( $args );

ob_start();

 while($query->have_posts()) : $query->the_post();
      the_permalink(); echo'<br />';
      the_title();
  endwhile; wp_reset_postdata();

$out = ob_get_clean();

echo $out;

Caleb · Accepted Answer · 2025-01-07 18:01:10Z

2

The WP_Query class does not generate HTML markup. WP_Query will query the WordPress content, and provide some data back. So using WP_Query and the sprintf() PHP function, the HTML markup can be generated (untested):

$args = array(
    ...
);

$query = new WP_Query( $args );
$html  = '';

while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    $query->the_post();

    $saved_html .= sprintf( '<a href="%s">%s</a>', esc_url( get_the_permalink() ), esc_html( get_the_title() ) );
}

echo $saved_html;

You could also use PHP's output buffering if you prefer, but sprintf() is the quickest/simplest implementation.

answered Jan 7 at 18:01

Caleb

2,5291 gold badge15 silver badges15 bronze badges

Thanks! That's interesting. I have some rather complex HTML markup to do, so I tried output buffering (just added that to my question), with no luck.

BlueDogRanch
– BlueDogRanch

2025-01-07 19:52:43 +00:00
Commented Jan 7 at 19:52

Add a comment |

BlueDogRanch · Accepted Answer · 2025-01-08 16:19:13Z

0

This works for PHP output buffering:

$args = array(
        'post_status' => 'publish',
    'orderby' => 'date',
    'order' => 'DESC',
    'post_type' => 'post',
        'posts_per_page' => 1,
);
$query = new WP_Query( $args );

ob_start();

 while($query->have_posts()) : $query->the_post();
      the_permalink(); echo'<br />';
      the_title();
  endwhile; wp_reset_postdata();

$out = ob_get_clean();

echo $out;

answered Jan 8 at 16:19

BlueDogRanch

1425 silver badges25 bronze badges

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