Title: excerpt stuff?
Last modified: August 19, 2016

---

# excerpt stuff?

 *  [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/)
 * Is there a way I can make a post on the front page display an excerpt if I enter
   one but not if I don’t and not limit the post to 55 characters. also I’d like
   a read more image to show on a post with an excerpt. I know about the <!–more–
   > tag and it doesn’t do exactly what I want.
 * Edit: and yes I have looked at codex 🙂

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)

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 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869009)
 * Maybe you need some excerpt related plugin(s). Take a look and search the Extend
   > Plugins section.
 *  Thread Starter [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869011)
 * looked already I don’t see any that will do what I want
 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869014)
 * This one always worked for me:
    [http://guff.szub.net/2005/02/26/the_excerpt-reloaded/](http://guff.szub.net/2005/02/26/the_excerpt-reloaded/)
 *  Thread Starter [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869020)
 * nope I don’t even get what its suppose to do all I want is for a summary to be
   on the front page for long posts and a read on link. I don’t want to use the “
   more” tag because it shows your teaser / summary in the actual post but the excerpt
   doesn’t
 *  Thread Starter [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869029)
 * in fact it just broke my blog and made me have to remove it nice plugin >:(
 *  [Michael Soriano](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mks6804/)
 * (@mks6804)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869034)
 * the excerpt question i can’t answer. but the read more image:
    `<a href="<php
   the_permalink()?>" ><img src="path of your read more image file"/></a>`
 *  Thread Starter [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869037)
 * I know how to do that, sigh I created this
    `<?php if (!empty($post->post_excerpt)){
   the_excerpt(); } else { the_content(); } ?>`  statement but it doesn’t work it
   gives me this error `Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in domains/
   alexrogahn.com/html/wp-content/themes/AlexRogahnTheme/index.php on line 25`
 *  Thread Starter [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869039)
 * managed to make it work
 *     ```
       <?php if(!empty($post->post_excerpt)) {
            the_excerpt();
        } else {
            the_content();
        } ?>
       ```
   
 *  but I only want the read on link when it displays the excerpt once I have that
   I’m all finished ^.^
 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869062)
 * Then use the code given to you by mks6804 after the_excerpt
 *  Thread Starter [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869154)
 * nope it doesn’t show up, hmmm this is what I’ve got
 *     ```
       <?php if(!empty($post->post_excerpt)) {
            the_excerpt('<a href="<?php get_permalink() ?>">TEST</a>');
        } else {
            the_content();
        } ?>
       ```
   
 * It won’t work am I doing something wrong?
 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869155)
 * Yes. It is not a parameter of the_excerpt. It should be AFTER the template tag.
 *  Thread Starter [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869176)
 * I tried it like this first:
 *     ```
       <?php if(!empty($post->post_excerpt)) {
            the_excerpt(); <a href="<?php get_permalink() ?>">TEST</a>
        } else {
            the_content();
        } ?>
       ```
   
 * it gave me this error
 *     ```
       Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '<' in /domains/alexrogahn.com/html/wp-content/themes/AlexRogahnTheme/index.php on line 26
       ```
   
 * then I tried it like this
 *     ```
       <?php if(!empty($post->post_excerpt)) {
            the_excerpt()<a href="<?php get_permalink() ?>">TEST</a>;
        } else {
            the_content();
        } ?>
       ```
   
 * and It gave me this:
 *     ```
       Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /domains/alexrogahn.com/html/wp-content/themes/AlexRogahnTheme/index.php on line 26
       ```
   
 * a little help plz?
 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869178)
 * Because you need to close the PHP before starting HTML code or need to echo.
   
   I am not a coder, so never trust the code I write:
 *     ```
       <?php if(!empty($post->post_excerpt)) {
            the_excerpt();
       echo "<a href="<?php get_permalink() ?>">TEST</a>";
        } else {
            the_content();
        } ?>
       ```
   
 * (or something like this)
 * On the other hand, with a little bit of search you could have find this, too:
   
   [http://www.cameraontheroad.com/?p=732](http://www.cameraontheroad.com/?p=732)
 *  Moderator [Samuel Wood (Otto)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/otto42/)
 * (@otto42)
 * WordPress.org Admin
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869182)
 * Fixed:
 *     ```
       <?php if(!empty($post->post_excerpt)) {
            the_excerpt(); ?>
       <a href="<?php get_permalink() ?>">TEST</a>
       <?php
        } else {
            the_content();
        } ?>
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/#post-869185)
 * lol thanks, but this is the code that did what I wanted without any errors or
   loss of function
 *     ```
       <?php if(!empty($post->post_excerpt)) {
            the_excerpt();
       echo '<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?>Read the rest of this article &raquo;</a>';
        } else {
            the_content();
       echo '<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?>Goto Post Page &raquo;</a>';
        } ?>
       ```
   
 * hope this helps anyone wanting the same as me to 🙂

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The topic ‘excerpt stuff?’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 18 replies
 * 6 participants
 * Last reply from: [slacklineradio](https://wordpress.org/support/users/slacklineradio/)
 * Last activity: [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excerpt-stuff/page/2/#post-869377)
 * Status: not resolved

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