I wanted to get the ID of the top level parent category of the current category such that, if the current category was a child of a child category (or any number levels down), I would have the top-level category ID returned to me. This post showing how to get the parent category ID sent me in the right direction and I’ve developed it a bit to fulfil my requirements.
It was also important that if I was browsing a top-level parent category, then I would just get the current category ID. The following function does the work in a nice simple fashion. All you need to do is feed it the current category ID.
The Function
/**
* Returns ID of top-level parent category, or current category if you are viewing a top-level
*
* @param string $catid Category ID to be checked
* @return string $catParent ID of top-level parent category
*/
function pa_category_top_parent_id ($catid) {
while ($catid) {
$cat = get_category($catid); // get the object for the catid
$catid = $cat->category_parent; // assign parent ID (if exists) to $catid
// the while loop will continue whilst there is a $catid
// when there is no longer a parent $catid will be NULL so we can assign our $catParent
$catParent = $cat->cat_ID;
}
return $catParent;
}
Usage
Obviously this function can be used in a variety of locations, but if you were checking things in your category.php template file you would use it as follows. In the case below I’m just echoing the top-level parent category ID.
$catid = get_query_var('cat');
echo pa_category_top_parent_id ($catid);
I hope someone finds this useful!
Comments