Title: WP_Query (HTML output issues)
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# WP_Query (HTML output issues)

 *  Resolved [mattrob73](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mattrob73/)
 * (@mattrob73)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_query-html-output-issues/)
 * Hi all,
 * Firstly i’d like to say what a great resource this is. it’s been my ‘go to’ every
   time I need some help and guidance and, until now, I have always found a solution
   to my problem through other posts…but this is my first ever post!
 * I’m struggling to output HTML through the function below. I’m still pretty new
   to WP and
    have spent the last few days trying to figure out how best to display
   a list of child pages in my sidebar. I’m almost there but the function isn’t 
   displaying HTML as expected.
 * **The function:**
 *     ```
       function show_the_kids() {
         global $post;
         $args = array(
             'post_type' => 'page',//it is a Page right?
             'post_status' => 'publish',
             'post_parent'    => $post->ID,
             'meta_query' => array(
                 array(
                     'key' => '_wp_page_template',
                     'value' => 'tmpl_mytemplate.php', // template name as stored in the dB
                 )
               )
           );
         $parent = new WP_Query( $args );
         if ( $parent->have_posts() ) :
             $str = "<h2>Show The Kids</h2>";
             $str.= "<ul>";
               while ( $parent->have_posts() ) : $parent->the_post();<br />
                   $str .= "<li>" . the_title() . "</li>"/n;
               endwhile;
              $str."</ul>";
         endif;
         wp_reset_query();
         echo $str;
       }
       ```
   
 * **The final HTML:**
 *     ```
       result01result02result03result04result05result06result07result08result09result10<h2>Show The Kids</h2><li><li><li><li><li><li><li><li><li><li>
       ```
   
 * I’ve tried everything I can think of, a lot of which is pure guess work in terms
   of the while loop, but the penny hasn’t dropped yet. I’m obviously lacking some
   theory knowledge so would really appreciate any guidance you can offer.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  Thread Starter [mattrob73](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mattrob73/)
 * (@mattrob73)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_query-html-output-issues/#post-5480881)
 * This seems to have moved me forward somewhat…
 * `$str .= "<li>" . get_the_title() . "</li>\n";`
 * Now just to great the link!

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

The topic ‘WP_Query (HTML output issues)’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 1 reply
 * 1 participant
 * Last reply from: [mattrob73](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mattrob73/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_query-html-output-issues/#post-5480881)
 * Status: resolved

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