Title: Custom Index Query – Sorting issue Last modified: August 20, 2016 --- # Custom Index Query – Sorting issue * [TOMTH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomth/) * (@tomth) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/) * Hello, * I have a custom query to display certain items on my homepage. I have three categories: Random(1), Results(4), Cup(6). What it does now is first get the newest post in category 4, the newest post in category 6, then all posts in category 1. * What I would like to add, is to sort all the posts by date. So cat 4 and 6 still only display 1 post each, it will be sorted by date. * All help is much appreciated. * Code: [http://pastebin.com/R70TrVAv](http://pastebin.com/R70TrVAv) Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total) * Thread Starter [TOMTH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomth/) * (@tomth) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480659) * Bump, anyone familiar with sorting algorhytms in WordPress? * [Jay](https://wordpress.org/support/users/phyrax/) * (@phyrax) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480666) * Use the [Order Parameters](http://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query#Order_.26_Orderby_Parameters) of the WP_Query class. Should help you out there. * Thread Starter [TOMTH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomth/) * (@tomth) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480686) * Wow Jerry, jack of all trades? 😛 * Thread Starter [TOMTH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomth/) * (@tomth) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480687) * The trouble is I think I have 3 queries. And arrays aren’t my forte. * Thread Starter [TOMTH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomth/) * (@tomth) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480691) * So this is what it does now. * Loop through cat 6, get newest post and post it. Loop through cat 4, get newest post and post it. Post all other posts (newest first). * First post is always category 6 and second post always category 4, even though a post in category 1 is newer than one in cat 4 or 6. * [Jay](https://wordpress.org/support/users/phyrax/) * (@phyrax) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480693) * Okay so query one and two (cat 6 & 4 respectively) are fine, but query 3, should just exclude cats 6 & 4. * Your third query instead of reading ‘cat=1’ can read ‘cat=-6,-4’ therefore excluding said category ids. * Thread Starter [TOMTH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomth/) * (@tomth) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480697) * That doesn’t change anything. Instead of sorting ALL the posts by date, it will first show result from query 1, result from query 2, result from query 3. Being 1 post from cat 6, 1 post from cat 4, and the rest. This is fine, except I can’t get it all to be sorted by date. * I’m not sure if this is clearer? * [Jay](https://wordpress.org/support/users/phyrax/) * (@phyrax) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480699) * Okay, so you want to query all categories, (1, 4, & 6) but you want only one post from cats 4 & 6, and you still want them to be in chronological order. * EDIT: I don’t know if that’s possible haha * Thread Starter [TOMTH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomth/) * (@tomth) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480700) * Yes 🙂 Aww crud 😛 * Thread Starter [TOMTH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomth/) * (@tomth) * [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480703) * Solved it with a workaround, but would be better if I could get it automated. Created an extra two categories, which will be manually controlled to only have 1 post in it. Each time a new post is created, the category needs to be edited. Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total) The topic ‘Custom Index Query – Sorting issue’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Hacks](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/hacks/) * 10 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [TOMTH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomth/) * Last activity: [14 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-index-query-sorting-issue/#post-2480703) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics