Title: WP_Query Clarification please
Last modified: November 7, 2020

---

# WP_Query Clarification please

 *  Resolved [farnely](https://wordpress.org/support/users/farnely/)
 * (@farnely)
 * [5 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_query-clarification-please/)
 * I’m confused about the bext way to get the post ID inside a WP_Query loop. Of
   the two methods below, I’ve read that the first is less prone to error than the
   second but also less efficient. Is this correct? Which is the best one to use
   please?
 * **Method One**
 *     ```
       $query = array( 
           'post_type' => 'my-custom-post-type',
           'post_status' => 'publish'
       );
   
       $result = new WP_Query( $query );
       if ( $result->have_posts() ) {
           while ( $result->have_posts() ) {        
               $result->the_post();
               $result_id = (int) get_the_ID();		
           }
       }
       wp_reset_postdata();
       ```
   
 * **Method Two**
 *     ```
       $query = array( 
           'post_type' => 'my-custom-post-type',
           'post_status' => 'publish'
       );
   
       $result = new WP_Query( $query );
       if ( $result->have_posts() ) {
           while ( $result->have_posts() ) {        
               $result->the_post();
               $result_id = (int) $result->post->ID;	
           }
       }
       wp_reset_postdata();
       ```
   
 * Many thanks

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

 *  [Joy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/joyously/)
 * (@joyously)
 * [5 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_query-clarification-please/#post-13633109)
 * In your example, you have called `the_post()`, so the global $post variable is
   being used. The `get_` functions use the global $post, so neither one is more
   correct. If your code was not “for the loop”, obviously a direct access of the
   variable is fast and correct, and the `get_the_ID` call would be the wrong post.
 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [5 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_query-clarification-please/#post-13633621)
 * “less efficient” in this case is technically correct, but the difference is so
   negligible that it makes no difference in real world performance. Maybe if you
   were looping through thousands of items the difference might start to add up.
   If your loop source were that big, you’d have bigger performance issues 🙂 In
   the proper context, I like to use get_the_ID(), others don’t, the choice is more
   a matter of coding style.
 *  Thread Starter [farnely](https://wordpress.org/support/users/farnely/)
 * (@farnely)
 * [5 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_query-clarification-please/#post-13638654)
 * Thank you both for your replies; that’s been a great help

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

The topic ‘WP_Query Clarification please’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [$post->id](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/post-id/)
 * [wp_query](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/wp_query/)

 * In: [Developing with WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/wp-advanced/)
 * 3 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [farnely](https://wordpress.org/support/users/farnely/)
 * Last activity: [5 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_query-clarification-please/#post-13638654)
 * Status: resolved

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