Title: Missing posts from query_posts
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# Missing posts from query_posts

 *  Resolved [r_chee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/r_chee/)
 * (@r_chee)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-posts-from-query_posts/)
 * Hi all, I’m fairly new to WordPress although I have tinkered with a few pre-made
   templates to try and get the results I want before. For the first time ever I
   have embarked on the really fun (yet at the moment frustrating) world of creating
   a theme from scratch!
 * So far I have found it really rewarding, however I have come across a snag that
   I just can’t find the answer for, everything I read, including a tutorial from
   Lynda.com tells me I’m doing it right – it’s just not working as intended. I 
   was hoping someone here would tell me that the problem is really obvious and 
   give me a clue to what is going on.
 * Currently I am working off line (using MAMP) to design and set up the theme. 
   I have a fixed home page which displays different categories and a list of the
   top 1-3 post headings of each one.
 * I am using query_posts to select a category and tell it how many posts I want,
   then a small local loop to get and display them, and then I reset the query ready
   for the next time.
 * **I works a treat, although if I tell it to show me a number of posts, it will
   always show me one less than I ask for – and it always leaves off the latest –
   which is a major problem for the purpose of the site.**
 * This happens on all instances of the query_posts loop (lets call it) on the page
   and it’s got be baffled. Here’s some mark up of one of the lists…
 *     ```
       <h2 class="side-title">Pick of the day</h2>
       		<?php query_posts('cat=33'.'&showposts=4'.'&orderby=date'	); the_post(); ?>
       		<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
   
       		<div class="latest-post">
       				<div class="recent-thumb"><img src="<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'thumb_med', true); ?>" /></div>
       				<div class="sidebar-post">
       					<p class="side-cat"><?php the_date(); ?></p>
       					<h5 class="side-name"><?php the_title(); ?></h5>
       				</div>
       		</div>
       		<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
       		<?php wp_reset_query(); ?>
       ```
   
 * The above code shows the main title, a thumbnail of the post, it’s title and 
   the date. Ok so they are not links yet – I was coming back to that – but it seems
   to work beautifully, showing only 3 posts (not the coded 4, but I wanted 3!) 
   however not the latest one.
 * Does anyone have an idea as to what is going on? There is no main loop on the
   page anywhere, and just another few of the above snippets where I want the lists
   to be. Is it just simply that I’m not working on a live site, I wouldn’t have
   thought so but I have to ask!
 * Please help someone, show me that I’m daft! 🙂 Thank you in advance.

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

 *  [Marvel Labs](https://wordpress.org/support/users/royalprince/)
 * (@royalprince)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-posts-from-query_posts/#post-3150891)
 * why dont you login in dashboard go to Settings>Reading and set the number of 
   blog posts. and call the posts page via regular wp query loop
 *  Thread Starter [r_chee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/r_chee/)
 * (@r_chee)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-posts-from-query_posts/#post-3150893)
 * Thanks for the quick reply but please excuse my next question…
 * I do the above code once on the left of the page to call up 3 post headings and
   thumbnails, once down the right to call up 5 posts, and several other times throughout
   the static homepage to show just one. All from different categories.
 * If I did what I think you are suggesting wouldn’t that dictate how many posts
   were shown in each list – so I couldn’t have different amounts in each list?
 * Again, forgive me if I’ve mis-understood your advice.
 *  [Marvel Labs](https://wordpress.org/support/users/royalprince/)
 * (@royalprince)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-posts-from-query_posts/#post-3150897)
 * instead of using cat=33 use category name as variable, what i thought was that
   you were trying to use the template globally, but since you require posts at 
   different places.
 * Try this
 *     ```
       ?php
       // The variable query will call 3 latest posts
       $query = 'posts_per_page=3';
       $queryObject = new WP_Query($query);
       // The Loop...
       if ($queryObject->have_posts()) {
       	while ($queryObject->have_posts()) {
       		$queryObject->the_post();
       		the_title();
       		the_content();
       	}
       }
       ?>
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [r_chee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/r_chee/)
 * (@r_chee)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-posts-from-query_posts/#post-3150910)
 * Oooh, close – thank you.
 * When I first used your code i got nothing but a blank screen, but after a little
   fiddling it almost works. It now shows the latest post in that category, but 
   only 1 despite asking for 3.
 * Would you mind just quickly casting your eye over what I have done and see if
   you can see where the error is – just thinking, do I need an array for the query
   if I want posts_per_page and the category?
 * Do I also need to reset the query or is that done automatically as I have specified
   posts per page as 3?
 * Thanks.
 *     ```
       <h2 class="side-title">Pick of the day</h2>
   
       <?php
       $query = 'posts_per_page=3'.'&cat=pickoftheday';
       $queryObject = new WP_Query($query);
       if ($queryObject->have_posts()) {
       	$queryObject->the_post();
       }
       ?>
       		<div class="latest-post">
       		<div class="recent-thumb"><img src="<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'thumb_med', true); ?>" /></div>
       		<div class="sidebar-post">
       				<p class="side-cat"><?php the_date(); ?></p>
       				<h5 class="side-name"><?php the_title(); ?></h5>
       		</div>
       		</div>
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [r_chee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/r_chee/)
 * (@r_chee)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-posts-from-query_posts/#post-3150941)
 * Sorted. Thank you so much for your advice Marvel Labs. Using what you gave me
   for inspiration and an evening of reading and tweaking we have it!
 * The code I finished with in case anyone else is struggling like i was (nothing
   worse than a forum cry for help that matches your problem with just a thank you
   and no details to copy from! 😀 ) is below. I’m very sure holes can easily be
   punched in it, but it works.
 * Thanks again.
 * R
 *     ```
       <h2 class="side-title">Pick of the day</h2>
   
       <?php $posts = get_posts('category=33&numberposts=3'); ?>
       <?php if( $posts ) : ?>
       <?php foreach( $posts as $post ) : setup_postdata( $post ); ?>
       	<div class="latest-post">
       		<div class="recent-thumb"><img src="<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'thumb_med', true); ?>" /></div>
   
       				<div class="sidebar-post">
       					<p class="side-cat"><?php the_date(); ?></p>
       					<h5 class="side-name"><?php the_title(); ?></h5>
       				</div>
       		</div>
       <?php endforeach; ?>
       <?php endif; ?>
       <?php wp_reset_query(); ?>
       ```
   

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

The topic ‘Missing posts from query_posts’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [missing](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/missing/)
 * [php](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/php/)
 * [post](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/post/)
 * [query_posts](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/query_posts/)
 * [template](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/template/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [r_chee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/r_chee/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-posts-from-query_posts/#post-3150941)
 * Status: resolved

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