Title: Split custom archives function into two columns
Last modified: August 20, 2016

---

# Split custom archives function into two columns

 *  [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * (@alexrogahn)
 * [13 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/split-custom-archives-function-into-two-columns/)
 * WordPress, you infuriate me sometimes!
 * What I’ve been trying to do for the past few hours is trying to have a way that
   I can display the Archive’s down the sidebar with a custom date format (without
   changing the global options in settings), a terribly convoluted task that should
   really be as simple as using `the_date();`. I just want to make January 2013 
   for example, Jan 13 instead while also having one year down one column and the
   other in the other.
 * I’ve managed to do this alright by adapting this code: [http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-themes/how-to-customize-the-display-of-wordpress-archives-in-your-sidebar/](http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-themes/how-to-customize-the-display-of-wordpress-archives-in-your-sidebar/)
   to this:
 *     ```
       function sidebar_archive_list($arclistno = "24") {
   
           global $wpdb;
           	$limit = 0;
           	$year_prev = null;
           		$months = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT DISTINCT MONTH( post_date ) AS month ,	YEAR( post_date ) AS year, COUNT( id ) as post_count FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_status = 'publish' and post_date <= now( ) and post_type = 'post' GROUP BY month , year ORDER BY post_date DESC");
   
           foreach($months as $month) :
           	$year_current = $month->year;
   
           if ($year_current != $year_prev){
           	if ($year_prev != null){ }
           }
       ?>
   
        	<a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/<?php echo $month->year; ?>/<?php echo date("m", mktime(0, 0, 0, $month->month, 1, $month->year)) ?>" title="<?php echo date("F Y", mktime(0, 0, 0, $month->month, 1, $month->year)); ?>"><?php echo date("M y", mktime(0,0,0,$month->month,1,$month->year)); ?></a>
   
       <?php 
   
           $year_prev = $year_current;
   
           if(++$limit >= $arclistno) { break; }
   
           endforeach; 
   
       }
       ```
   
 * And that’s worked no problems.
 * The trouble has now come when I’ve tried to split the returned content from this
   function into two separate divs. I believe I need to make the function into an
   array like you can get from `wp_get_archives('echo=0');` but my PHP skills aren’t
   superb and I can’t quite figure out how to go about recreating the same kind 
   of thing. It should look like:
 *     ```
       array(3) { [0]=> string(86) "January 2013"
                        [1]=> string(90) "September 2012"
                        [2]=> string(82) "March 2012"
       }
       ```
   
 * Bearing in mind the anchor links also surround the dates, but echo, rather than
   print out.
 * The code I’m using for the content split is:
 *     ```
       <?php
   
       	 				$links = print(sidebar_archive_list());
       		 			$archive_n = count($links);
       		 			for ($i=0;$i<$archive_n;$i++):
       		 				if ($i<$archive_n/2):
       		 					$archive_left = $archive_left.'<li>'.$links[$i].'</li>';
       		 				elseif ($i>=$archive_n/2):
       		 					$archive_right = $archive_right.'<li>'.$links[$i].'</li>';
       		 				endif;
       		 			endfor;
       		 		?>			 		
   
       	 			<div class="group">
   
       	 				<ul class="sb_double_column_list alignleft">
       	 					<?php echo $archive_left;?>
       	 				</ul>
   
       	 				<ul class="sb_double_column_list alignright">
       		 				<?php echo $archive_right;?>
       		 			</ul>
       	 			</div>
       ```
   
 * Any help or advice would be wholeheartedly appreciated. I’m in a real rut with
   this!

The topic ‘Split custom archives function into two columns’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [archives](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/archives/)
 * [columns](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/columns/)
 * [date](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/date/)
 * [formatting](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/formatting/)
 * [functions](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/functions/)
 * [get](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/get/)
 * [split](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/split/)
 * [two](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/two/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 0 replies
 * 1 participant
 * Last reply from: [alexrogahn](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrogahn/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/split-custom-archives-function-into-two-columns/)
 * Status: not resolved

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