Title: Short Code Variable Not Being Read
Last modified: August 21, 2016

---

# Short Code Variable Not Being Read

 *  [kokoruz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kokoruz/)
 * (@kokoruz)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/short-code-variable-not-being-read/)
 * I have a bunch of High Schools and Classes that I am trying to list/filter using
   a short code but it seems that my shortcode variable will not extend into my 
   meta_query array. How do I pass a variable via the shortcode [pos_list school
   =”BGHS” cluster=”Architecture & Construction”] to filter from these 2 custom 
   fields.
 *     ```
       <?php
       /**
       * Program of Study Short Code
       **/
   
       function pos_listings($atts) {
   
       	 extract(shortcode_atts( array(
       		'school' => 'BGHS',
       		'cluster' => 'Finance',
       		), $atts));
   
       $args = array(
   
       	'post_type' => 'Programs',
               'posts_per_page' => -1,
       	'orderby'=> 'title',
       	'order' => 'ASC',
       	'meta_query' => array(
   
       		'relation' => 'AND',
   
       		array(
       			'key' => 'School',
       			'value' => $school,
       			'compare' => '='
       			),
       		array(
       			'key' => 'Cluster',
       			'value' => $cluster,
       			'compare' => '='
       			)
   
       		)
   
       	);
   
       }
       add_shortcode('pos_list', 'pos_listings');
       $the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
       ?>
   
       <?php if( $the_query->have_posts() ): ?>
       	<ul>
       	<?php while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
       		<li>
       			<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
       		</li>
       	<?php endwhile; ?>
       	</ul>
       <?php endif; ?>
   
       <?php wp_reset_query();  // Restore global post data stomped by the_post(). ?>
       ```
   

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

 *  [Chris Olbekson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/c3mdigital/)
 * (@c3mdigital)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/short-code-variable-not-being-read/#post-4491352)
 * Couple things here.
 * 1. Your query needs to be inside the shortcode call back function to have access
   to the $args.
 * 2. The shortcoce callback function needs to return a value and can’t print or
   echo anything. You can use output buffering to catch the output and store it 
   in a returnable variable.
 * 3. For your arguments you need to get rid of uppercase characters and spaces.
   This also goes for your meta_keys and meta_values.
 * 4. Use wp_reset_postdata instead of wp_reset_query.
 * Here is a sample of how this would work:
 *     ```
       function pos_listings( $atts ) {
       	extract( shortcode_atts( array(
       		  'school'  => 'bghs',
       		  'cluster' => 'finance',
       		), $atts
       	  )
       	);
   
       	$args = array(
       	  'post_type'      => 'programs',
       	  'posts_per_page' => -1,
       	  'orderby'        => 'title',
       	  'order'          => 'ASC',
       	  'meta_query'     => array(
   
       		'relation' => 'AND',
   
       		array(
       		  'key'     => 'school',
       		  'value'   => $school,
       		  'compare' => '='
       		),
       		array(
       		  'key'     => 'cluster',
       		  'value'   => $cluster,
       		  'compare' => '='
       		)
       	  )
       	);
       	$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
       	ob_start() ?>
   
       	<?php if ( $the_query->have_posts() ): ?>
       	<ul>
       	<?php while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
       		<li>
       			<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
       		</li>
       	<?php endwhile; ?>
       	</ul>
       <?php endif; ?>
       <?php wp_reset_postdata();
   
       	$return = ob_get_clean();
       	return $return;
       }
       add_shortcode( 'pos_list', 'pos_listings' );
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [kokoruz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kokoruz/)
 * (@kokoruz)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/short-code-variable-not-being-read/#post-4491448)
 * Thanks for your response. Couple questions before I jump in. Doesn’t this example
   in the Codex use upper case and spaces for the Key? [http://codex.wordpress.org/Custom_Fields](http://codex.wordpress.org/Custom_Fields)
 * I am very new to working with custom fields so I want to make sure I understand
   what your sharing with me.
 * Also as I was working when I would manually add the $school and $cluster content
   into the $args = array (instead of pulling those variable from my shortcode that
   I could not get to work) it would filter my posts like I wanted and as I have
   a lot of content to filter using the shortcode seemed the most efficient way 
   to accomplish this.
 * Please let me know about the lowercase and spaces and any other advise or help
   is greatly appreciated.
 * Thank You!
 *  Thread Starter [kokoruz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kokoruz/)
 * (@kokoruz)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/short-code-variable-not-being-read/#post-4491449)
 * I’ve tried to study and implement you help. My Page has the following shortcode
   and it ignores it
    [pos_list school=”BGHS” cluster=”Architecture & Construction”]
   but if I replace ‘value’ => $school, ‘value’ => $cluster,
 * with
 * ‘value’ => ‘BGHS’,
    ‘value’ => ‘Architecture & Construction’,
 * it works perfectly. How do I get my variables from my shortcode to read into 
   the function. Scratching my head? Started reading about the output buffering 
   to catch them but to be honest I don’t really understand it completely.
 *     ```
       <?php 
   
       /**
       * POS Short Code
       **/
   
       function pos_listings($atts) {
   
       	 extract(shortcode_atts( array(
       		'school' => '',
       		'cluster' => '',
       		), $atts
       	)
       );
   
       $args = array(
   
       	'post_type' => 'programs',
           'posts_per_page' => -1,
       	'orderby'=> 'title',
       	'order' => 'ASC',
       	'meta_query' => array(
   
       		'relation' => 'AND',
   
       		array(
       			'key' => 'school',
       			'value' => $school,
       			'compare' => '='
       			),
       		array(
       			'key' => 'cluster',
       			'value' => $cluster,
       			'compare' => '='
       			)
   
       		)
   
       	);
   
       	$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
       	ob_start() ?>
   
       	<?php if( $the_query->have_posts() ): ?>
   
       	<ul>
       	<?php while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
       		<li>
       			<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
       		</li>
       	<?php endwhile; ?>
       	</ul>
       <?php endif; ?>
       <?php wp_reset_postdata();
   
       	$return = ob_get_clean();
       	return $return;
       }
       add_shortcode( 'pos_list', 'pos_listings' );
       ?>
       ```
   

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

The topic ‘Short Code Variable Not Being Read’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [array](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/array/)
 * [Short Code](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/short-code/)
 * [variable](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/variable/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [kokoruz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kokoruz/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/short-code-variable-not-being-read/#post-4491449)
 * Status: not resolved

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