{"id":9624,"date":"2025-08-01T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T18:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weblizar.com\/blog\/?p=9624"},"modified":"2025-08-01T12:38:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:08:16","slug":"develop-custom-page-excerpt-plugin-for-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weblizar.com\/blog\/develop-custom-page-excerpt-plugin-for-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Develop a Custom Page Excerpt Plugin for WordPress?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Custom Page Excerpt Plugin –<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s easy to show lists of posts in\u00a0WordPress<\/strong>. Your theme\u2019s index.php file is probably handling all your categories, authors and search requests. However, sometimes you need a little more control. Perhaps you have multiple product pages but only want to feature two or three on your home page without manually re-entering the details.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this tutorial, we\u2019ll develop a small WordPress plugin which replaces a [shortcode<\/strong>] with a link to a specific page or post. The link will show the title, thumbnail, and excerpt, but you can configure it to show whichever details you require.<\/p>\n

Create a new file named\u00a0showexcerptlink.php<\/strong>\u00a0in your plugins folder (wp-content\/plugins) and add a header so it can be identified by WordPress:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
1<\/div>\n
2<\/div>\n
3<\/div>\n
4<\/div>\n
5<\/div>\n
6<\/div>\n
7<\/div>\n
8<\/div>\n
9<\/div>\n
10<\/div>\n
11<\/div>\n
12<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<?<\/span>php<\/span><\/div>\n
\/*<\/span><\/div>\n
Plugin Name: Show Page\/Post Excerpt<\/span><\/div>\n
Plugin URI: https:\/\/www.weblizar.com\/<\/span><\/div>\n
Description: Replaces a shortcode with a link to a specific page or post<\/span><\/div>\n
Version: 1.0<\/span><\/div>\n
Author: Weblizar<\/span><\/div>\n
Author URI:\u00a0https:\/\/www.weblizar.com\/<\/span><\/div>\n
License: Use this how you like!<\/span><\/div>\n
*\/<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This is followed by our primary function, ShowExcerptLink(). We require one parameter: the slug\/permalink name. While we could pass the ID, the slug is a better option because it\u2019s less likely to change while you\u2019re editing pages. You could add further parameters to control the HTML output.<\/p>\n

Code –<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
1<\/div>\n
2<\/div>\n
3<\/div>\n
4<\/div>\n
5<\/div>\n
6<\/div>\n
7<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
function<\/span> ShowExcerptLink<\/span>(<\/span>$<\/span>params<\/span> =<\/span> array<\/span>(<\/span>)<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span><\/div>\n
extract<\/span>(<\/span>shortcode_atts<\/span>(<\/span>array<\/span>(<\/span><\/div>\n
‘slug’<\/span> =&<\/span>gt<\/span>;<\/span> ”<\/span><\/div>\n
)<\/span>,<\/span> $<\/span>params<\/span>)<\/span>)<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
$<\/span>html<\/span> =<\/span> ”<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
if<\/span> (<\/span>$<\/span>slug<\/span> ==<\/span> ”<\/span>)<\/span> return<\/span> $<\/span>html<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We can now look up the page or post using the WordPress WP_Query object. The following code attempts to find the page slug but, if that doesn\u2019t exist, it looks for a post slug instead:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
1<\/div>\n
2<\/div>\n
3<\/div>\n
4<\/div>\n
5<\/div>\n
6<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
$<\/span>q<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> WP_Query<\/span>(<\/span>“pagename=$slug”<\/span>)<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
if<\/span> (<\/span>!<\/span>$<\/span>q<\/span>–<\/span>&<\/span>gt<\/span>;<\/span>have_posts<\/span>(<\/span>)<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span><\/div>\n
$<\/span>q<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> WP_Query<\/span>(<\/span>“name=$slug”<\/span>)<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
}<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We can now start a WordPress<\/a> loop \u2014 although it\u2019ll only have zero or one post:<\/p>\n

\/\/ the loop<\/span><\/div>\n
while<\/span> (<\/span>$<\/span>q<\/span>–<\/span>&<\/span>gt<\/span>;<\/span>have_posts<\/span>(<\/span>)<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span><\/div>\n
$<\/span>q<\/span>–<\/span>&<\/span>gt<\/span>;<\/span>the_post<\/span>(<\/span>)<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The HTML output is now generated in the $html string. You can use any standard function that you\u2019d normally find in a WordPress loop. In this example, we\u2019ll output the title (H2), thumbnail, an excerpt:<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
1<\/div>\n
2<\/div>\n
3<\/div>\n
4<\/div>\n
5<\/div>\n
6<\/div>\n
7<\/div>\n
8<\/div>\n
9<\/div>\n
10<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\/\/ generate HTML<\/span><\/div>\n
$<\/span>link<\/span> =<\/span> ‘&lt;a href=”‘<\/span> .<\/span> get_permalink<\/span>(<\/span>)<\/span> .<\/span> ‘&gt;’<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
$<\/span>html<\/span> .<\/span>=<\/span><\/div>\n
‘&lt;h2&gt;’<\/span> .<\/span> $<\/span>link<\/span> .<\/span> the_title<\/span>(<\/span>”<\/span>,<\/span>”<\/span>,<\/span>false<\/span>)<\/span> .<\/span> “&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/h2&gt;\\n”<\/span> .<\/span><\/div>\n
(<\/span>has_post_thumbnail<\/span>(<\/span>)<\/span> ?<\/span><\/div>\n
$<\/span>link<\/span> .<\/span> get_the_post_thumbnail<\/span>(<\/span>)<\/span> .<\/span> ‘&lt;\/a&gt;’<\/span> :<\/span> ”<\/span><\/div>\n
)<\/span> .<\/span><\/div>\n
get_the_excerpt<\/span>(<\/span>)<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

(This code is valid in any version of HTML although HTML5 would permit the anchor around the
\nwhole block.)<\/em><\/p>\n

We can now end the loop, return the HTML<\/a> string and complete the function:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
1<\/div>\n
2<\/div>\n
3<\/div>\n
4<\/div>\n
5<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
}<\/span><\/div>\n
return<\/span> $<\/span>html<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
}<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Finally, we\u2019ll register our function as a shortcode handler:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
1<\/div>\n
2<\/div>\n
3<\/div>\n
4<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\/\/ register shortcode<\/span><\/div>\n
add_shortcode<\/span>(<\/span>‘showexcerptlink’<\/span>,<\/span> ‘ShowExcerptLink’<\/span>)<\/span>;<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Save the file and activate the plugin in your WordPress control panel.<\/p>\n

Showing an Excerpt<\/h2>\n

The following shortcode can now be added to the content of any page or post:<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
1<\/div>\n
2<\/div>\n
3<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
[<\/span>showexcerptlink <\/span>slug<\/span>=<\/span>page<\/span>–<\/span>or<\/span>–<\/span>post<\/span>–<\/span>slug<\/span>–<\/span>name<\/span>]<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

If you\u2019re referencing a page which has one or more parent pages, the slugs must be separated by a forward slash, e.g.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
1<\/div>\n
2<\/div>\n
3<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
[<\/span>showexcerptlink <\/span>slug<\/span>=<\/span>grand<\/span>–<\/span>parent<\/span>–<\/span>slug<\/span>\/<\/span>parent<\/span>–<\/span>slug<\/span>\/<\/span>page<\/span>–<\/span>slug<\/span>]<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Custom Page Excerpt Plugin – It\u2019s easy to show lists of posts in\u00a0WordPress. Your theme\u2019s index.php file is probably handling all your categories, authors and search requests. However, sometimes you need a little more control. Perhaps you have multiple product pages but only want to feature two or three on your home page without manually<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1803,1802,1804],"class_list":["post-9624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plugins","tag-custom-page","tag-custom-page-excerpt-plugin","tag-excerpt-plugin"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Develop a Custom Page Excerpt Plugin for WordPress? - Weblizar Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s easy to show lists of posts in\u00a0WordPress. 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