Combining Multiple if into one? - php

Question

I have two wordpress queries and am curious if there is a way to combine them into one?
I have tried else if, but to no avail.
<?php
$posts = get_field('appeal_forms', 'options');
if( $posts ): ?>
<ul>
<?php foreach( $posts as $post): // variable must be called $post (IMPORTANT) ?>
<?php setup_postdata($post); ?>
<li>
<?php the_title(); ?>
</li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<?php wp_reset_postdata(); // IMPORTANT - reset the $post object so the rest of the page works correctly ?>
<?php endif; ?>
And here the second:
<?php
$posts = get_field('misc', 'options');
if( $posts ): ?>
<ul>
<?php foreach( $posts as $post): // variable must be called $post (IMPORTANT) ?>
<?php setup_postdata($post); ?>
<li>
<?php the_title(); ?>
</li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<?php wp_reset_postdata(); // IMPORTANT - reset the $post object so the rest of the page works correctly ?>
<?php endif; ?>

Answer 1

You need to combine both arrays of posts into a single array then loop through it as you were doing.
In the example below I'm getting both arrays, checking they are valid using is_array and then merging them into one using array_merge.
<?php
// Get both post arrays.
$appeal_forms = get_field('appeal_forms', 'options');
$misc = get_field('misc', 'options');
// Check both are arrays.
if ( is_array( $appeal_forms ) && is_array( $misc ) ) {
// Combine the posts into a single array.
$posts = array_merge( $appeal_forms, $misc ); ?>
<ul>
<?php foreach ( $posts as $post ) {
setup_postdata( $post ); ?>
<li>
<?php the_title(); ?>
</li>
<?php } ?>
</ul>
<?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
<?php } ?>
If both arrays won't always have posts then the code needs to be adapted. The check I perform means that if appeal_forms or misc is empty then nothing is displayed.
If that's the case the solution I'd propose would be:
$posts = array();
// Check each array individually and add their contents to the post array.
if ( is_array( $appeal_forms ) ) {
$posts = array_merge( $posts, $appeal_forms );
}
if ( is_array( $misc ) ) {
$posts = array_merge( $posts, $misc );
}
if ( $posts ) {…