3 Ways to Display a List of Posts in WordPress

Lists of articles and static pages can be retrieved using new WP_Query() or get_posts(). However, since their usage differs slightly, I'll note down the equivalent ways to write them. The following three examples all yield the same output.

Output

i = 1, title1
i = 2, title2
i = 3, title3
found = 3

WP_Query() and while loop

WP_Query() returns an object, so you use new. It is used in combination with a while loop. Thanks to this $query->the_post(), you can use functions such as get_the_title() and get_field("name");. I have included $found = $query->post_count; to retrieve the number of posts and $i++ to count the sequence, but these can be removed if not needed.

<?php
  $query = new WP_Query([
    'post_type' => 'post',
    'post_status' => 'publish',
    'posts_per_page' => 3,
    'order' => 'desc',
    'orderby' => 'date'
  ]);
  $found = $query->post_count;
  $i = 0;
  if ($query->have_posts()) : while ($query->have_posts()) : $i++; $query->the_post();
?>
  <p>i = <?php echo $i;?>, <?php echo get_the_title();?></p>
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
<p>found = <?php echo $found?></p>

get_posts() and foreach loop

get_posts() returns an array, so new is not required. It is used in combination with foreach or for loops. setup_postdata($post) is required as the equivalent statement to $query->the_post(). Without this, functions like get_the_title() cannot be used. Use count() to retrieve the number of posts.

<?php
  $posts = get_posts([
    'post_type' => 'post',
    'post_status' => 'publish',
    'posts_per_page' => 3,
    'order' => 'desc',
    'orderby' => 'date'
  ]);
  $found = count($posts);
  $i = 0;
  foreach ($posts as $post) : $i++; setup_postdata($post);
?>
  <p>i = <?php echo $i;?>, <?php echo get_the_title();?></p>
<?php endforeach; ?>
<p>found = <?php echo $found?></p>

get_posts() and for loop

Similar to the foreach loop, setup_postdata($post) is required. Also, please note that PHP array indices are zero-based. Since it's an array, elements are retrieved as $post=$posts[$i].

<?php
  $posts = get_posts([
    'post_type' => 'post',
    'post_status' => 'publish',
    'posts_per_page' => 3,
    'order' => 'desc',
    'orderby' => 'date'
  ]);
  $found = count($posts);
  for ($i=0; $i<$found; $i++) : $post=$posts[$i]; setup_postdata($post);
?>
  <p>i = <?php echo $i+1;?>, <?php echo get_the_title();?></p>
<?php endfor; ?>
<p>found = <?php echo $found?></p>

Summary

To use functions such as get_the_title() or get_field("name");:

• new WP_Query() requires $query->the_post()
• get_posts() requires setup_postdata($post)