Title: archive.php and archives.php
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# archive.php and archives.php

 *  [pauxcore](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pauxcore/)
 * (@pauxcore)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/archivephp-and-archivesphp-1/)
 * whats the difference between the 2 file?
 * what should i put in archive.php and what should i put in archives.php

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/)
 * (@whooami)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/archivephp-and-archivesphp-1/#post-921481)
 * Look at the default theme. It uses both.
 *  [jberghem](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jberghem/)
 * (@jberghem)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/archivephp-and-archivesphp-1/#post-921500)
 * Yes, the default theme uses both, yet you need to be WP smart to figure out what
   they are for.
 * The archive.php is in the template hierarchy as explained in the [Template Hierarchy](http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy)
   article in the Doc section.
 * The archives.php is a custom template file which isn’t used unless you select
   it under the page template option when you create a new Page. The fact that it
   just happens to be called archives.php is of no consequence. You could rename
   the file to diddlysquat.php and it wouldn’t change anything. However the absence
   of archive.php would default back to the index.php when an archive is called 
   on by the server.
 *  Thread Starter [pauxcore](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pauxcore/)
 * (@pauxcore)
 * [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/archivephp-and-archivesphp-1/#post-921565)
 * now i know what the difference between the two file. tnx jberghem

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘archive.php and archives.php’ is closed to new replies.

 * 3 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [pauxcore](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pauxcore/)
 * Last activity: [17 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/archivephp-and-archivesphp-1/#post-921565)
 * Status: not resolved

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