Title: Custom category template
Last modified: September 1, 2016

---

# Custom category template

 *  Resolved [jrcollins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jrcollins/)
 * (@jrcollins)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-category-template-5/)
 * I’m trying customize my category template to display a list of the current categories
   child categories.
    However, I want to reference some custom variables in the 
   output so can’t use `wp_list_categories`. The list will include the tile and 
   link of child category, a thumbnail and the category description.
 * This is what I’ve got so far:
 *     ```
       <?php if ( is_category() ); {
       $cat_id = get_category(get_query_var( 'cat' ));
       $termchildren = get_term_children( $cat_id, $category );
       ```
   
 * Can anyone advise me on the best way to do this?
    Should I use `get_term_by` 
   to return the data for each child category?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [Josh](https://wordpress.org/support/users/josh401/)
 * (@josh401)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-category-template-5/#post-7684866)
 * Perhaps something like this?
 *     ```
       $cat_id = get_category( get_query_var( 'cat' ) );
   
       $categories = get_categories(
           array( 'parent' => $cat_id )
       );
       ```
   
 * This should give you an array of all child categories of the parent. Then, all
   you need to do is loop them, and extract what info you need.
 *     ```
       foreach( $categories as $cat ) {
   
           echo '<li>'.$cat->name.'</li>';
       }
       ```
   
 * That should give you a list of all child categories names. You can use ‘var_dump(
   $cat )’ inside the loop to see what other values you can retrieve. I know you
   can also use `$cat->description’ to get the category description.
 *  Thread Starter [jrcollins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jrcollins/)
 * (@jrcollins)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-category-template-5/#post-7684873)
 * Thanks, I tried that but I got an error for some reason.
 *  Thread Starter [jrcollins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jrcollins/)
 * (@jrcollins)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-category-template-5/#post-7684876)
 * I tried the following but it’s not returning anything:
 *     ```
       <?php 
   
       $catid = get_category(get_query_var( 'cat' ));
   
       $termchildren = get_term_children( $catid, 'category' );
   
       echo '<ul>';
   
       foreach( $termchildren as $cat ) {
   
       $term = get_term_by( 'id', '$cat', 'category' );
   
       echo '<li>'.$term->name.'</li>';
   
       }
   
       ?>
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [jrcollins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jrcollins/)
 * (@jrcollins)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-category-template-5/#post-7684920)
 * I got it working now. I just modified your code slightly. Thanks for your help.
 * Here’s the working code:
 *     ```
       <?php 
   
       $cat = get_category( get_query_var( 'cat' ) );
       $cat_id = $cat->cat_ID;
       $child_categories=get_categories(
           array( 'parent' => $cat_id )
       );
   
       foreach ( $child_categories as $child ) {
           // Here I'm showing as a list...
           echo '<li>'.$child ->cat_name.'</li>';
       }
   
       ?>
       ```
   
 *  [Josh](https://wordpress.org/support/users/josh401/)
 * (@josh401)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-category-template-5/#post-7684940)
 * Great!! 🙂
 * Sorry, I had to leave yesterday. Super glad you got it working properly! Nice.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘Custom category template’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [child categories](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/child-categories/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Josh](https://wordpress.org/support/users/josh401/)
 * Last activity: [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-category-template-5/#post-7684940)
 * Status: resolved

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