Title: Query Posts With Value From Shortcode? Last modified: August 19, 2016 --- # Query Posts With Value From Shortcode? * [mshelton15](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mshelton15/) * (@mshelton15) * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/) * I’m using a plugin called WP-Geolocation-JS which gets geolocation details from a site visitor and allows you display that information using shortcodes, very straightforward. * I am using that data to auto detect the site visitor’s location and filter search results (this is for a business directory website) automatically based on that city. This is to keep someone in Virginia who is searching for a business having to sift through businesses in California. * Now on to the question: * I am trying to query by city, which I am getting from this plugin, and checking it against my custom meta key for city that my posts have. * In short it should work something like this: * $geocity = do_shortcode(‘[mmjs-city]‘); query_posts(“meta_key=city&meta_value =$geocity&post_type=listings”); * But this doesn’t work. I know the short code is working, I can echo that out separately so that’s not the issue. I also know my query posts is working because just to test I manually set $geocity = to my city (the exact same as it displays when I echo out the shortcode for the plugin) and it works just fine. * So the issue, I think atleast, is that the query doesn’t accept a value that outputs from a shortcode? * It’s just baffling to me because I can say “echo do_shortcode(‘[mmjs-city]‘);” and get a value, for example, “Atlanta” and then set $geocity = “Atlanta” and( let’s assume I’m in Atlanta) when I query my posts for that it works. But when I try setting $geocity = do_shortcode(‘[mmjs-city]‘); (which I just proved that the short code has a value of “Atlanta”) and I query my posts it doesn’t work. * Is there a way to get this to work? Is there another way to do what I am trying to do. * I would really appreciate any help anyone has to offer. Thank you! Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) * Thread Starter [mshelton15](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mshelton15/) * (@mshelton15) * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/#post-1808066) * Anyone got atleast a clue? * [vtxyzzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vtxyzzy/) * (@vtxyzzy) * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/#post-1808078) * I wonder if the shortcode is returning some non-visible/non-printable character so that when you echo the value you don’t see it but it messes up the query? You might try echoing strlen($geocity) to find out. * Thread Starter [mshelton15](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mshelton15/) * (@mshelton15) * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/#post-1808086) * [@vtxyzzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vtxyzzy/) Thanks for the reply. * I just tried echo strlen($geocity) and it output 68 * I don’t know what strlen does but from my googling it looks like 68 is the length of the string which I interpret as meaning that the value output is 68 characters long. Is that correct? * If so, then that’s definitely the issue since the city name I am testing with is 10 characters. * Any way you might know of to fix that or do something different to achieve the same result? * [vtxyzzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vtxyzzy/) * (@vtxyzzy) * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/#post-1808088) * Well the question now: What is the value ‘padded’ with? * Try trimming whitespace with `$geocity = trim(do_shortcode(‘[mmjs-city]‘));` * And then check the length again. * Thread Starter [mshelton15](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mshelton15/) * (@mshelton15) * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/#post-1808089) * I did $geocity = trim(do_shortcode(‘[mmjs-city]’)); and still got 68 for the length. * I also tried to get rid of non-printable characters with: * $geocity = preg_replace( ‘/[^[:print:]]/’, ”, $geocity ); * and still got 68 for the length. * [vtxyzzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vtxyzzy/) * (@vtxyzzy) * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/#post-1808090) * OK – I understand what is happening now. * The shortcode returns javascript which gets sent to the browser when you echo $geocity. Here is the script (length 68): * `` * The js is executed by the browser and writes the city name to the document. So, the output of the js is not available to PHP. * What you are trying to do cannot be done. * Thread Starter [mshelton15](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mshelton15/) * (@mshelton15) * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/#post-1808091) * Thanks so much for the help. * Bummer that it won’t work though. And there isn’t any other way that you might know of? Maybe a completely different approach? * Thanks again for you help, I really appreciate it! * [vtxyzzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vtxyzzy/) * (@vtxyzzy) * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/#post-1808093) * I have not looked for a way to do that. You would need to find a plugin that uses php code, not JS. Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) The topic ‘Query Posts With Value From Shortcode?’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [shortcode](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/shortcode/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 8 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [vtxyzzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vtxyzzy/) * Last activity: [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/query-posts-with-value-from-shortcode/#post-1808093) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics