Title: Outputting WP_query data from within a function
Last modified: August 20, 2016

---

# Outputting WP_query data from within a function

 *  Resolved [Ronnieinspain](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ronnieinspain/)
 * (@ronnieinspain)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/outputting-wp_query-data-from-within-a-function/)
 * Hi,
    Lost countles hours on this already and just cant figure it out… im creating
   a shortcode that will display a chosen number of custom posts with a chosen excerpt
   length; if i output with echo, it works, except, as expected it doesnt output
   where expected. If i return, it just shows one post only… Someone please point
   me in the right direction.
 * Here’s the code:
 *     ```
       /*
        * function to show the last hotspots that were added
        * with posibility of changing the number displayed and the
        * lenght of the extract shown, in words.
        */
       function show_latest_hotspots( $atts ) {
   
       	$data = extract( shortcode_atts( array( 'number' => 3, 'lenght' => 30, ), $atts ) );
   
       	global $post;
   
       	// var_dump( $data );
       	// print_r( $lenght );
   
       	$args = array(
       		'post_type' 	=> 'ait-dir-item',
       		'posts_per_page' => $number,
       		'orderby' 		=> 'date',
       		'order' 		=> 'ASC',
       		 );
   
       	$loop = new WP_Query( $args );
   
       	while ( $loop->have_posts() ) : $loop->the_post();
   
       		$url = get_permalink();
       		$title = get_the_title();
       		$excerpt = strip_tags( $post->post_content );
   
       		$excerptArr = str_word_count( $excerpt, 1);
       			if(count ( $excerptArr > $lenght )) {
       				$text = join( " ", array_slice( $excerptArr, 0, $lenght ) );
       				$text .= " <a href='$url'>Read More</a>";
       			} else {
       				$text = $excerpt;
       			}
   
       		$content = 	"<div class=\"text\">";
       		$content .= "<div class=\"title\"><h3><a href='$url'>".$title."</a></h3></div>";
       		$content .= $excerpt."</div><br /><!-- eof div.text-->";
   
       		// echo $content;
       		echo $content;
   
       	endwhile;
   
       	// Reset Post Data
       	wp_reset_postdata();
       }
   
       add_shortcode('show_latest_hotspots', 'show_latest_hotspots');
       ```
   

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  Thread Starter [Ronnieinspain](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ronnieinspain/)
 * (@ronnieinspain)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/outputting-wp_query-data-from-within-a-function/#post-3561972)
 * Couldnt leave it alone and finally figured it out; was giving new values to $
   output on every iteration of the loop. So easy.
 * This code works:
 *     ```
       /*
        * function to show the last hotspots that were added
        * with posibility of changing the number displayed and the
        * lenght of the extract shown, in words.
        */
       function show_latest_hotspots( $atts ) {
   
       	// global $lenght;
       	global $post;
       	$content = "";
   
       	$data = extract( shortcode_atts( array( 'number' => 3, 'lenght' => 30, ), $atts ) );
   
       	$args = array(
       		'post_type' 	=> 'ait-dir-item',
       		'posts_per_page' => $number,
       		'orderby' 		=> 'date',
       		'order' 		=> 'DESC',
       		 );
   
       	$loop = new WP_Query( $args );
   
       	while ( $loop->have_posts() ) : $loop->the_post();
   
       		$url = get_permalink();
       		$title = get_the_title();
       		$myexcerpt = strip_tags( $post->post_content );
   
       		$excerptArr = str_word_count( $myexcerpt, 1);
       			if(count ( $excerptArr > $lenght )) {
       				$text = join( " ", array_slice( $excerptArr, 0, $lenght ) );
       				$text .= " <a href='$url'>Read More</a>";
       			} else {
       				$text = $myexcerpt;
       			}
   
       		$content .= "<div class=\"text\">";
       		$content .= "<div class=\"title\"><h3><a href='$url'>".$title."</a></h3></div>";
       		$content .= $myexcerpt."</div><br /><!-- eof div.text-->";
   
       	endwhile;
   
       	// Reset Post Data
       	wp_reset_postdata();
   
       	// echo $content;
       	return $content;
   
       }
   
       add_shortcode('show_latest_hotspots', 'show_latest_hotspots');
       ```
   

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

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## Tags

 * [cpt](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/cpt/)
 * [custom post type](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/custom-post-type/)
 * [function](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/function/)
 * [wp_query](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/wp_query/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 1 reply
 * 1 participant
 * Last reply from: [Ronnieinspain](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ronnieinspain/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/outputting-wp_query-data-from-within-a-function/#post-3561972)
 * Status: resolved

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