Title: Started getting this ambiguous sql error Last modified: August 22, 2016 --- # Started getting this ambiguous sql error * Resolved [Matt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/syntax53/) * (@syntax53) * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/started-getting-this-ambiguous-sql-error/) * > [15-Jan-2015 02:16:01 UTC] WordPress database error Column ‘post_date’ in where > clause is ambiguous for query SELECT wp_2_posts.* FROM wp_2_posts INNER JOIN > wp_2_term_relationships ON (wp_2_posts.ID = wp_2_term_relationships.object_id) > LEFT JOIN wp_2_posts AS p2 ON (p2.ID = p2.ID) WHERE 1=1 AND ( > wp_2_term_relationships. > term_taxonomy_id IN (3) ) AND wp_2_posts.post_type = ‘attachment’ AND (((wp_2_posts. > post_status = ‘inherit’) OR (wp_2_posts.post_status = ‘inherit’ AND (p2.post_status > = ‘inherit’)))) AND (`post_date` > ‘2014-12-15’ OR `post_type` != ‘page’) GROUP > BY wp_2_posts.ID ORDER BY wp_2_posts.post_title ASC made by require(‘d:\path\ > to\wp\wp-blog-header.php’), require_once(‘d:\path\to\wp\wp-includes\template- > loader.php’), include(‘d:\path\to\wp\wp-content\themes\asd-custom\index.php’), > get_template_part, locate_template, load_template, require(‘d:\path\to\wp\wp- > content\themes\asd-custom\content.php’), custom_excerpt_length, do_shortcode, > preg_replace_callback, do_shortcode_tag, call_user_func, MLAShortcodes::mla_gallery_shortcode, > MLAShortcodes::mla_get_shortcode_attachments, WP_Query->query, WP_Query->get_posts * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/media-library-assistant/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/media-library-assistant/) Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total) * Thread Starter [Matt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/syntax53/) * (@syntax53) * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/started-getting-this-ambiguous-sql-error/#post-5673272) * post edited — I was wrong, the shortcode i originally posted was not causing this. trying to figure out what is. * Thread Starter [Matt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/syntax53/) * (@syntax53) * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/started-getting-this-ambiguous-sql-error/#post-5673307) * So it is being caused by the shortcode I thought it was, but not when displayed directly on the page. It’s being caused by a custom function I wrote that creates an excerpt from the content of the page when “get_the_excerpt()” returns nothing in a list of recent posts. My function is as follows– * ``` function custom_excerpt_length($length){ $excerpt = do_shortcode( get_the_content() ); $excerpt = strip_tags($excerpt, '

  • '); $excerpt = str_ireplace(array('
    '), array(', '), $excerpt); $excerpt = str_ireplace(array('

  • ','
    • '), array(', ', ''), $excerpt); $excerpt = str_ireplace(array('

    ','

    '), array(', ', ''), $excerpt); while (substr($excerpt, 0, 1) == ',') { $excerpt = substr($excerpt, 1); } $excerpt = trim($excerpt); if (strlen($excerpt) > $length) { $permalink = get_permalink(); $excerpt = substr($excerpt, 0, $length); $excerpt = substr($excerpt, 0, strripos($excerpt, " ")); $excerpt = trim(preg_replace( '/\s+/', ' ', $excerpt)); $excerpt = $excerpt.'... more'; } return $excerpt; } ``` * The “$excerpt = do_shortcode( get_the_content() );” is causing it. This is being ran in the loop on a homepage set to show the most recent posts. The shortcode is– * [mla_gallery mla_link_attributes=’rel=”none”‘ attachment_category=board-governance mla_style=mla-policy-list-ul mla_markup=mla-policy-list-ul post_parent=all orderby =title order=asc post_mime_type=all link=file] * Thread Starter [Matt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/syntax53/) * (@syntax53) * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/started-getting-this-ambiguous-sql-error/#post-5673311) * fyi– i tried updating to the latest development version and it did not fix it. * Thread Starter [Matt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/syntax53/) * (@syntax53) * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/started-getting-this-ambiguous-sql-error/#post-5673315) * wow, ok. I tracked it back even further to another custom function that I wrote where I was hooking “pre_get_posts” to add pages to the loop, but only if they were 1 month old or newer. I just had to modify that query to include the table name ($wpdb->prefix.’posts’). I guess you are also hooking that somewhere? Either way, ignore my ramblings I suppose 🙂 * Plugin Author [David Lingren](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dglingren/) * (@dglingren) * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/started-getting-this-ambiguous-sql-error/#post-5673327) * Thanks for tracking this down and resolving it before I could muddy the waters. As you suspected, MLA hooks quite a few filters to support the query enhancements in, for example, `[mla_gallery]`. * I have been on both sides of the “warring filters” experience and I can relate to your adventures. * If there’s anything else I can do to make your MLA experience better, let me know. Thanks for your persistence and your interest in the plugin. Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total) The topic ‘Started getting this ambiguous sql error’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/media-library-assistant/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=973502) * [Media Library Assistant](https://wordpress.org/plugins/media-library-assistant/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/media-library-assistant/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/media-library-assistant/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/media-library-assistant/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/media-library-assistant/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/media-library-assistant/reviews/) * 5 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [David Lingren](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dglingren/) * Last activity: [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/started-getting-this-ambiguous-sql-error/#post-5673327) * Status: resolved