Title: WordPress loop and custom sort order issues
Last modified: September 15, 2022

---

# WordPress loop and custom sort order issues

 *  [dss123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dss123/)
 * (@dss123)
 * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loop-and-custom-sort-order-issues/)
 * I am currently working on a loop for my website which works just fine, however
   I am having trouble in customizing this further, specifically when it comes to
   sorting the results.
 * Here is my current query:
 *     ```
               <?php 
               $i = 1;
               $args = array(
               'numberposts'	=> -1,
               'posts_per_page' => 25,
               'post_type'		=> 'cars',
               'orderby'   => 'meta_value_num',
               'meta_key'  => 'pvm_like_votes_count',
               'order'   => 'DESC'
               );
               $the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
               ?>
               <?php if( $the_query->have_posts() ): ?>
               <?php while( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
               <?php 
               $totalUpVotes = bpvm_get_vote_counts_meta($post->ID) > 0 ? bpvm_get_vote_counts_meta($post->ID) : 'N/A';
               $comments = get_comments(array(
                   'post_id' => $post->ID ));
               $ratings = array();
               foreach($comments as $comment) {
                   $rating = get_comment_meta($comment->comment_ID, 'rating', true);
                   array_push($ratings,$rating);
                   $avgrating =  array_sum($ratings)/count($ratings);
               }
               ?>
       ```
   
 * After comes my related table which spits out all the correct information sorted
   by **pvm_like_votes_count** until here is all correct. See here: [https://i.stack.imgur.com/q1OZw.jpg](https://i.stack.imgur.com/q1OZw.jpg)
 * Total upvotes are being displayed using: **$totalUpVotes** and it’s sorted by**‘
   orderby’ => ‘meta_value_num’, ‘meta_key’ => ‘pvm_like_votes_count’** in a DESC
   order which is perfect!
 * Now I wanted to tweak this a bit and only count vote results from the last 24hours
   and I achieved that by doing the following:
 *     ```
               <?php 
               $i = 1;
               $args = array(
               'numberposts'	=> -1,
               'posts_per_page' => 25,
               'post_type'		=> 'cars',
               'orderby'   => 'meta_value_num',
               'meta_key'  => 'pvm_like_votes_count',
               'order'   => 'DESC'
               );
               $the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
               ?>
               <?php if( $the_query->have_posts() ): ?>
               <?php while( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
               <?php 
                   $datetime24h = strtotime('-1 day');
                   $datetime24h = date('Y-m-d H:i:s',$datetime24h);
                   $votes = $wpdb->get_results('select * from toptr_bpvm_data where post_type = "cars" and vote_date>="'.$datetime24h.'" and postid='.$post->ID, OBJECT );
                   $votescount = 0;
                   foreach ($votes as $sv => $s) {
                       $votescount = $votescount+$s->votes;
                   };
               $comments = get_comments(array(
                   'post_id' => $post->ID ));
               $ratings = array();
               foreach($comments as $comment) {
                   $rating = get_comment_meta($comment->comment_ID, 'rating', true);
                   array_push($ratings,$rating);
                   $avgrating =  array_sum($ratings)/count($ratings);
               }
       ```
   
 * Votes are being displayed by using: **$votescount**
 * The values are actually correct, however it messes up my sort order as it’s not
   taken the highest vote on first position, please see here: [https://i.stack.imgur.com/GweSN.jpg](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GweSN.jpg)
 * I reckon this will have something to do with ‘orderby’ or ‘meta_key’ however 
   I just can’t get my head around it.
 * Some expert help would be truly appreciated, thank you very much!
    -  This topic was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by [Jan Dembowski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jdembowski/).

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loop-and-custom-sort-order-issues/#post-16013936)
 * The 24 hour count isn’t available as static data, so WP_Query wouldn’t be able
   to order by this number for you. You could create a custom SQL query with a sub-
   query to get the 24 hour count for use in ordering. I’m not that good with SQL,
   so I’d probably construct a data array from WP_Query results, calculating the
   24 hour value for each as the array is built. Then use `usort()` or other appropriate
   PHP array sorting function to re-order the array based on this value.
 * Sorting with SQL would be much more efficient than using PHP, but we attack a
   problem with the knowledge we have 🙂

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

The topic ‘WordPress loop and custom sort order issues’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [loop](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/loop/)
 * [orderby](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/orderby/)
 * [query](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/query/)

 * In: [Developing with WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/wp-advanced/)
 * 1 reply
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * Last activity: [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loop-and-custom-sort-order-issues/#post-16013936)
 * Status: not resolved

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