Dated blog entries: the singular blog_post object, the blog_posts list, and the methods that load them.
A blog post is a publishable entry that belongs to a Blog. Use the singular blog_post object when you already have one post—for example the current page entity, or a post returned by the {% blog_post %} method. Use blog_posts when you need a filtered, sorted, or paginated list for indexes and feeds.
Typical fields include title, summary_html, content_html, post date, the parent blog, and an optional featured image. Because posts are entities, shared properties such as url and canonical_url are available as well.
The sections below document the objects and methods together so you can move from a single post to a list without leaving this page.
Whether or not the user has visited this URL previously in their current session. Note that this will always be false if the user has not allowed session permission (see the Permissions and Personalization documentation). Using this property prevents the page from being fast-cached
The default output that the blog_post produces when output directly to the template. The default output may change at any time. Template developers should avoid using this and should handle the output of blog posts themselves
Specific custom fields may be accessed using {{ entity.fieldid }} or {{blog_post['field-id']}}
ExampleSearch only blog post entities by a query parameterFilter blog post entities using a query parameter (e.g. tag or search term) and output the results.
ExampleLoad one blog post and show its date, summary, and parent blog{% blog_post %} loads a single blog post by name or GUID; post_date, summary_html, and blog identify the entry and its parent blog.
Liquid
{%- blog_post var story = "Welcome Post" -%}
{%- if story.is_valid -%}
<article>
<h1>{{ story.title }}</h1>
<p class="meta">{{ story.post_date | date: "MMMM d, yyyy" }} in {{ story.blog.linked_title }}</p>
<div class="summary">{{ story.summary_html }}</div>
</article>
{%- endif -%}
The default output that the blog_posts will produce when it is output directly to the template - using the "output_in_list" property of each blog_post in the items list
List containing all of the combined blog_posts from the prepended, fetched, and appended lists. If unique is true, this list will not contain any duplicates. If max_size is set, this list will not contain more than the number of blog_posts specified.
If set, this is the maximum number of items that will be returned in the items list and the maximum number of items that will be included when this blog_posts object is enumerated as a list. When not set, this value will be 0.
The maximum number of items that were allowed to be in the list of fetched blog_posts. May be 0 in some cases (such as when when there are no fetched blog_posts.
The 1-based index of the paginated results returned in the list of fetched blog_posts, which is calculated from the start and limit parameters. Useful for paginated results.
If any items were fetched from the database, total_pages will contain the number of paginated result pages in the database for the provided arguments. This may also be calculated using the total_count and limit properties.
ExampleGroup blog posts by blog (group filter)Use the group_by filter to group objects by a specific property. For example, you can group a list of blog posts by blog.
Liquid
{%- blog_posts posts = limit: 40 start: 1 sort_by: 'date_posted' sort_direction: 'desc' -%}
{%- var grouped_by_blog = posts | group_by: 'blog' -%}
{%- for group in grouped_by_blog -%}
<p>{{ group.Key.title }}: {{ group.Value | size }}</p>
{%- endfor -%}
ExampleGet request parameters and fetch blog_posts with pagination and tag filterRead page and tag from query params, then fetch blog_posts with limit and sort.
Liquid
{%- assign var postsPerPage = 10 -%}
{%- assign pageParam = 1 -%}
<!-- Did a page param get passed in the url? -->
{%- if request.query_params['page'] -%}
{%- assign pageParam = request.query_params['page'] | to_int -%}
{%- endif -%}
<!-- Did a tag param get passed in the url? -->
{%- if request.query_params['tag'] and request.query_params['tag'] != "" -%}
{%- assign tagFilter = request.query_params['tag'] | url_decode | downcase -%}
{%- endif -%}
{%- blog_posts assign posts = blog:"The Kitchen Essentials" tag:tagFilter limit:postsPerPage page:pageParam sort_by:"post_date" sort_direction:"desc" -%}
{%- for post in posts -%}
{{-post.title-}}
{%- endfor -%}
ExampleGetting random items with the rand filterUse the rand filter to pick one or more random items from a list, get random numbers, or build random strings. Assign results to a variable so the same random choice is used everywhere on the page; use prevent_cache: false when you want the page response to be cacheable.
One random item from an existing list (prevents fast-caching)
Get a random item from an existing list and allow the page to be fast-cached. Subsequent pageloads will have the same random item chosen until the cache expires unless there is something else on the page that prevents fast-caching.
Functionally equivalent to the previous example, but only one item has to be fetched from the database. With the cache_random:true argument the result may be fast-cached and can be reused for subsequent pageloads and without the cache_random argument the page will not able to be fast-cached.
Get 3 random numbers between 10 and 20 without repeats and outputs them as a space-separated list. Because the third argument is not provided the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random numbers.
Get 4 random numbers between 1 and 6 and output them as a comma-separated list. Because the second argument is not provided, duplicates are allowed. Because the third argument is not provided, the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random numbers.
Multiple random numbers with duplicates allowed and fast-cacheable
Functionally identical to the previous example except the page may be fast-cached so that future pageloads are significantly faster, but may include the same set of random numbers until the cache expires.
Gets 4 unique random numbers between 1 and 10 and outputs them as a space-separated list. Because the third argument is not provided, the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random numbers.
Single random number between 0 and 10
Liquid
{{ 11 | rand: 1 | minus: 1 }}
To get a random number starting with 0 we need to subtract 1 from the result. To allow the page to be fast-cached: Specify either true or false for the second argument (it doesn't matter which for this example) and specify false for the third argument.
Gets a single random character from the set of characters in the string. In this example, the set of characters includes lowercase letters, numbers, and the hyphen and underscore characters with some characters excluded and some repeated to increase their probability of being chosen.
Pick 10 random characters from the set, with duplicates allowed. Because the third argument is not provided, the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random characters.
Pick 10 random characters from the set, with no duplicates allowed. However, because the set itself contains 5 hyphens and 5 underscores the result may also contain up to 5 hyphens and 5 underscores. Because the third argument is provided as false, the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random characters.
ExampleMap a list of blog posts to their linked titlesUse the map filter to map blog posts to their linked title. The map filter could just as easily be used for any other property as well.
{% blog_post output_to_template? [[var, set, or assign]? variable_name]? output_to_template? = value %}Parameters
output_to_templateoptionalflag
Include this flag to write the blog_post's output into the page at this point. What that output is differs by type, and for most types it is a built-in default that may change at any time, so see the output property of the blog_post object before relying on it. The flag may come before or after the variable name. When the call names no variable, the output is written whether or not the flag is present, which makes {% blog_post = value %} the smallest valid use of this method. When the call names a variable, the flag saves the blog_post to the variable and writes its output as well.
var, set, or assignoptionalkeyword
Chooses the scope that holds the variable. var, the default, stores it in the current scope. set and assign can store it in outer scopes; Variable Scopes compares the three and when each fits.
variable_nameoptionalvariable
The variable that receives the blog_post. It may also be written as a reference, &name, which reads the variable's name from another variable (see Methods Overview). Leave it out to write the blog_post to the template instead.
valuerequiredexpression
Required; without a value the method call is not valid. Identifies which blog_post to fetch. It can evaluate to the blog_post itself, to its GUID, or to other text that identifies it, which for most types is its name; a type identified some other way, or only by GUID, says so in its summary. Names are matched without regard to case, but accented letters must match. A GUID identifies exactly one record, whereas when several records share a name, which of them is returned is not specified, so giving the records you fetch by name unique names avoids the question. A name reads better in a template and a GUID is exact; neither suits every site. When nothing matches, no error is raised: the variable holds an invalid blog_post, whose is_valid is false, so check is_valid before using it. When the expression itself has no value, for example an undefined variable, the method does nothing and the variable keeps any earlier value. May use liquid filters.
ExampleLoad one blog post and show its date, summary, and parent blog{% blog_post %} loads a single blog post by name or GUID; post_date, summary_html, and blog identify the entry and its parent blog.
Liquid
{%- blog_post var story = "Welcome Post" -%}
{%- if story.is_valid -%}
<article>
<h1>{{ story.title }}</h1>
<p class="meta">{{ story.post_date | date: "MMMM d, yyyy" }} in {{ story.blog.linked_title }}</p>
<div class="summary">{{ story.summary_html }}</div>
</article>
{%- endif -%}
Include this flag to write the blog_posts list's output into the page here. That output is a built-in default for most types and may change at any time, so see the output property of the blog_posts object before relying on it. The flag may come before or after the variable name. With no variable named, the output is written whether or not the flag is present; with one, the flag saves the list and writes its output too.
var, set, or assignoptionalkeyword
Chooses the scope that holds the variable. var, the default, stores it in the current scope. set and assign can store it in outer scopes; Variable Scopes compares the three and when each fits.
variable_nameoptionalvariable
The variable that receives the blog_posts list. It may also be written as a reference, &name, which reads the variable's name from another variable (see Methods Overview). Leave it out to write the list to the template instead.
argumentsrequiredcollection
Key:value pairs. May use the variable arguments syntax. Written after a required =. The name:value pairs choose which blog_posts to fetch and how to narrow, order and page them. Nothing is fetched unless the call gives an argument other than prepend, append, unique, exclude_prepended, exclude_appended, max_size and cache_random; without one, the list holds only the prepended and appended blog_posts.
Options
prependoptionallist
May be a single blog_post, a list of blog_posts, or the name or guid of one blog_post, to be included at the beginning of the blog_posts list.
appendoptionallist
May be a single blog_post, a list of blog_posts, or the name or guid of one blog_post, to be included at the end of the blog_posts list.
excludeoptionallist
May be a single blog_post, a list of blog_posts, or the name or guid of one blog_post that should NOT be included in the fetched results. Has no effect on prepended or appended blog_posts.
exclude_prependedoptionalboolean
True to specifically exclude all prepended blog_posts from the fetched results. If "unique:true" is specified this is the default behavior, although you may also specify "exclude_prepended:false" to allow any prepended items to be fetched along with other results anyway.
exclude_appendedoptionalboolean
True to specifically exclude all appended blog_posts from the fetched results. This is false by default - even if "unique:true" is specified - so that results are returned in the proper order.
uniqueoptionalboolean
True to remove duplicates from each of the resulting lists (prepended, fetched, appended, and items), although there may be duplicates between the prepended, fetched, and appended lists. The "items" list will include objects in the order in which they appear - with prepended items first, then fetched items, then appended items.
max_sizeoptionalinteger
The maximum number of items to be included in the "items" list. If there are any prepended or appended items, this will automatically lower the "limit" to only fetch as many blog_posts as needed. Note that this may also impact both the "page" and "total_pages" values in the resulting blog_posts. In order to use pagination with a list loaded using "max_size" use "start" instead of "page" and "limit".
filteroptionalvalue
Only include blog posts that match the given string filter
blogoptionalvalue
May include multiple blogs. Only include blog posts with one of the given blogs
start_dateoptionalvalue
Only include blog posts with a post_date greater than or equal to start_date
end_dateoptionalvalue
Only include blog posts with a post_date less than or equal to end_date
tagoptionalvalue
May include multiple tags. Only include blog posts with one of the given tags
authoroptionalvalue
May include multiple authors. Only include blog posts with one of the given authors
folderoptionalvalue
May include multiple folders. Only include blog posts with one of the given folders
date_created_startoptionalvalue
Only include blog posts with date_created greater than or equal to date_created_start. Remember that date_created will typically be the date that the blog post was first published.
date_created_endoptionalvalue
Only include blog posts with date_created less than or equal to date_created_end. Remember that date_created will typically be the date that the blog post was first published.
has_urloptionalboolean
If true, only return blog_posts that have a URL. If false, only return blog_posts that do NOT have a URL.
templateoptionalobject
Only return blog_posts with one of these templates. May be a single template, a list of templates, or the name or guid of a template to filter the results by. A template name is its path from the root, with or without the leading /; unlike {% template %}, a list method does not accept a relative path.
include_in_searchoptionalboolean
True or false to only return blog_posts whose include_in_search property matches the provided value.
domain_nameoptionalobject
Only return blog_posts from the given domain.
startoptionalinteger
Set the 1-based index of the first blog_post to fetch.
pageoptionalinteger
Used to automatically calculate the first blog_post to fetch based on both the "limit" and the 1-based "page" value. Defaults to 1, but is ignored if "start" is set.
limitoptionalinteger
The maximum number of blog_posts to fetch. Defaults to 10; a value that is not a number also gives 10. The largest limit is 1000, and a limit of 0 or less, or above 1000, returns up to 1000 blog_posts. Note that if "max_size" is defined, then "limit" may be automatically lowered even if specified separately.
sort_byoptionalstring
Specify which property to sort the results by. Has no effect on prepended or appended blog_posts. An unrecognized value is ignored without an error and the default order is used. Some methods accept more values than the built-ins listed here; see each method. By default, results will be sorted by relevance if there is a filter string and date_created desc (newest first) if not. Options include:
relevance: only applies when there is a filter string. sort_direction applies: descending, the default, puts the best match first.
date_created: the date each blog_post was first published. Unpublishing and republishing one resets date_created to the current date.
random: results will be returned in a random order, which prevents the page from being fast-cached. Setting cache_random:true overrides this behavior and allows the page to be fast-cached anyway.
name
title
url
browser_title
sort_directionoptionalstring
asc or desc. Defaults to desc; any value other than asc sorts descending.
cache_randomoptionalboolean
True to allow the results to be cached when sort_by is "random".
ExampleGroup blog posts by blog (group filter)Use the group_by filter to group objects by a specific property. For example, you can group a list of blog posts by blog.
Liquid
{%- blog_posts posts = limit: 40 start: 1 sort_by: 'date_posted' sort_direction: 'desc' -%}
{%- var grouped_by_blog = posts | group_by: 'blog' -%}
{%- for group in grouped_by_blog -%}
<p>{{ group.Key.title }}: {{ group.Value | size }}</p>
{%- endfor -%}
ExampleGet request parameters and fetch blog_posts with pagination and tag filterRead page and tag from query params, then fetch blog_posts with limit and sort.
Liquid
{%- assign var postsPerPage = 10 -%}
{%- assign pageParam = 1 -%}
<!-- Did a page param get passed in the url? -->
{%- if request.query_params['page'] -%}
{%- assign pageParam = request.query_params['page'] | to_int -%}
{%- endif -%}
<!-- Did a tag param get passed in the url? -->
{%- if request.query_params['tag'] and request.query_params['tag'] != "" -%}
{%- assign tagFilter = request.query_params['tag'] | url_decode | downcase -%}
{%- endif -%}
{%- blog_posts assign posts = blog:"The Kitchen Essentials" tag:tagFilter limit:postsPerPage page:pageParam sort_by:"post_date" sort_direction:"desc" -%}
{%- for post in posts -%}
{{-post.title-}}
{%- endfor -%}
ExampleGetting random items with the rand filterUse the rand filter to pick one or more random items from a list, get random numbers, or build random strings. Assign results to a variable so the same random choice is used everywhere on the page; use prevent_cache: false when you want the page response to be cacheable.
One random item from an existing list (prevents fast-caching)
Get a random item from an existing list and allow the page to be fast-cached. Subsequent pageloads will have the same random item chosen until the cache expires unless there is something else on the page that prevents fast-caching.
Functionally equivalent to the previous example, but only one item has to be fetched from the database. With the cache_random:true argument the result may be fast-cached and can be reused for subsequent pageloads and without the cache_random argument the page will not able to be fast-cached.
Get 3 random numbers between 10 and 20 without repeats and outputs them as a space-separated list. Because the third argument is not provided the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random numbers.
Get 4 random numbers between 1 and 6 and output them as a comma-separated list. Because the second argument is not provided, duplicates are allowed. Because the third argument is not provided, the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random numbers.
Multiple random numbers with duplicates allowed and fast-cacheable
Functionally identical to the previous example except the page may be fast-cached so that future pageloads are significantly faster, but may include the same set of random numbers until the cache expires.
Gets 4 unique random numbers between 1 and 10 and outputs them as a space-separated list. Because the third argument is not provided, the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random numbers.
Single random number between 0 and 10
Liquid
{{ 11 | rand: 1 | minus: 1 }}
To get a random number starting with 0 we need to subtract 1 from the result. To allow the page to be fast-cached: Specify either true or false for the second argument (it doesn't matter which for this example) and specify false for the third argument.
Gets a single random character from the set of characters in the string. In this example, the set of characters includes lowercase letters, numbers, and the hyphen and underscore characters with some characters excluded and some repeated to increase their probability of being chosen.
Pick 10 random characters from the set, with duplicates allowed. Because the third argument is not provided, the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random characters.
Pick 10 random characters from the set, with no duplicates allowed. However, because the set itself contains 5 hyphens and 5 underscores the result may also contain up to 5 hyphens and 5 underscores. Because the third argument is provided as false, the page will not be fast-cached and every pageload will have a new set of random characters.
ExampleMap a list of blog posts to their linked titlesUse the map filter to map blog posts to their linked title. The map filter could just as easily be used for any other property as well.