Title: Problem with starting_with=” “ Last modified: April 18, 2018 --- # Problem with starting_with=” “ * Resolved [DjPD](https://wordpress.org/support/users/djpd/) * (@djpd) * [8 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-witz-starting_with/) * Hi, I would like to create an A-Z list. If I enter the shortcode * ``` [catlist name="recipe" orderby=title order=asc starting_with="a" post_type="post" numberposts=-1] or [catlist name="recipe" starting_with="a" post_type="post" numberposts=-1] ``` * , then comes the following error message. * `Warning: strtoupper() expects parameter 1 to be string, object given in ...../ lcp-parameters.php on line 306` * What can I do against it? All other shortcodes works. - This topic was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by [DjPD](https://wordpress.org/support/users/djpd/). - This topic was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by [DjPD](https://wordpress.org/support/users/djpd/). Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) * Plugin Contributor [zymeth25](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zymeth25/) * (@zymeth25) * [8 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-witz-starting_with/#post-10221012) * Hi [@djpd](https://wordpress.org/support/users/djpd/) * It means there is an error when the plugin tries to get the character set of your database tables. * The quick way to fix this is to try passing the character set manually, instead of figuring out where this error really comes from. * Add this to your [child theme](https://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes)‘s `functions. php`: * ``` function my_set_db_charset( $charset, $table, $column ) { if ('wp_posts' === $table && 'post_title' === $column) { return 'utf8mb4'; } } add_filter('pre_get_col_charset', 'my_set_db_charset', 10, 3); ``` * It will tell the LCP plugin it should use the `utf8mb4` character set. If this doesn’t work try `utf8` instead. * Let me know of the result. * Thread Starter [DjPD](https://wordpress.org/support/users/djpd/) * (@djpd) * [8 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-witz-starting_with/#post-10221980) * Thank you for your help. The error message is no longer displayed. However, the site does not show me any results. I have a Parent Category and would like to have all the articles with the first letters A, B, C, etc. displayed. So I have a main category, which also includes subcategories. And I want all the articles( main and sub-categories) to be displayed. Subcategories should also be considered. Is that possible? I once tried `[catlist name="Sub Category" orderby=title order =asc starting_with="a" post_type="post, recipe" numberposts=-1]` , but to no avail. * Is there a trick or do you have a tip, which I could try. I would like to display all articles in alphabetical order. But with the shortcode the page shows nothing to me. But I have articles with the initials “A”. * Plugin Contributor [zymeth25](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zymeth25/) * (@zymeth25) * [8 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-witz-starting_with/#post-10222489) * First of all please make sure you have latest versions of WordPress and List Category Posts. * I am not sure I understand what you mean. Some things I will clarify: - When you select a category, e.g. `name="My Category"`, the LCP plugin will automatically display posts from the category’s sub-categories - If you want to display posts alphabetically, you don’t need `starting_with`, the plugin displays posts alphabetically by title by default - If you use `starting_with`, the plugin will only display posts which have a title that begins with the character you specified * Try your shortcode without `starting_with` and see if it works. Since we already know there are some database issues with your WordPress installation, it might be difficult to get it working (if you really need it). - This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by [zymeth25](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zymeth25/). - This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by [zymeth25](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zymeth25/). * Thread Starter [DjPD](https://wordpress.org/support/users/djpd/) * (@djpd) * [8 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-witz-starting_with/#post-10228927) * Many Thanks. I just tried [catlist starting_with = “a”], also different variants with name, etc. But nothing is displayed to me. * I wanted to display an alphabetical list. Additional HTML code between the letters. * ```
A A Titel1 A title2 A Share3

& lt; up & gt;

B B-Titel1 B-title2 B-Share3 ``` * But that is not possible with the normal shortcode, right? * I’ve always thought that it would be best to select and display each article with a first letter. These are of course many requests, but I do not know how to do it better. Except maybe with its own function or something. Then I could first read out all the articles in the category and then simply spend and write something in between each letter jump. But I think I can not do that yet. * Plugin Contributor [zymeth25](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zymeth25/) * (@zymeth25) * [8 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-witz-starting_with/#post-10229269) * Try using `utf8` instead of `utf8mb4` in the code I gave you. * If neither work then I’m afraid `starting_with` won’t work on your WordPress installation because of unexpected database setup. * You could try reinstalling WordPress afresh with the most recent version if you want to go further with debugging this. * Plugin Contributor [zymeth25](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zymeth25/) * (@zymeth25) * [7 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-witz-starting_with/#post-10435201) * Hi, you might want to check the latest plugin version, we changed starting_with a bit, maybe it solves your issue. * Cheers Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) The topic ‘Problem with starting_with=” “’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/list-category-posts/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=2517221) * [List category posts](https://wordpress.org/plugins/list-category-posts/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/list-category-posts/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/list-category-posts/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/list-category-posts/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/list-category-posts/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/list-category-posts/reviews/) * 6 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [zymeth25](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zymeth25/) * Last activity: [7 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-witz-starting_with/#post-10435201) * Status: resolved