Find the post an attachment is attached to

I have a list of attachment IDs which are built using this array:

$all_images = get_posts( array(
'post_type' => 'attachment',
'numberposts' => -1,
) );

Is it possible to take the image ID from this list and find the Title and permalink of the POST the image is attached to?

I know it's feasible because the Media Library shows it, but I can't find the right way to do this with the codex.

I have tried this code, however it returns the title and permalink to the attachment itself, not the post it's attached to:

$parent = get_post_field( 'post_parent', $imgID);
$link = get_permalink($parent);

I have a list of attachment IDs which are built using this array:

$all_images = get_posts( array(
'post_type' => 'attachment',
'numberposts' => -1,
) );

Is it possible to take the image ID from this list and find the Title and permalink of the POST the image is attached to?

I know it's feasible because the Media Library shows it, but I can't find the right way to do this with the codex.

I have tried this code, however it returns the title and permalink to the attachment itself, not the post it's attached to:

$parent = get_post_field( 'post_parent', $imgID);
$link = get_permalink($parent);

• posts
• attachments
• images

Share Improve this question asked Mar 1, 2012 at 15:54 PatPat 68122 gold badges99 silver badges2929 bronze badges 1

• 1 Googlers: $attachment->post_parent is the ID of the post that the attachment is attached to. – rinogo Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 23:07

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3 Answers 3

Sorted by: Reset to default 6

So, if you start with this:

$all_images = get_posts( array(
'post_type' => 'attachment',
'numberposts' => -1,
) );

Then $all_images is an array of objects. Step through each one:

foreach ( $all_images as $image ) {}

Inside that foreach, you can use the normal parameters available to the $post object:

• $image->ID is the ID of the attachment post
• $image->post_parent is the ID of the attachment post's parent post

So, let's use that, to get what you're after, using get_the_title() and get_permalink():

// Get the parent post ID
$parent_id = $image->post_parent;
// Get the parent post Title
$parent_title = get_the_title( $parent_id );
// Get the parent post permalink
$parent_permalink = get_permalink( $parent_id );

That's pretty much it!

Putting it all together:

<?php
// Get all image attachments
$all_images = get_posts( array(
'post_type' => 'attachment',
'numberposts' => -1,
) );
// Step through all image attachments
foreach ( $all_images as $image ) {
    // Get the parent post ID
    $parent_id = $image->post_parent;
    // Get the parent post Title
    $parent_title = get_the_title( $parent_id );
    // Get the parent post permalink
    $parent_permalink = get_permalink( $parent_id );
}
?>

The $images, is an array of post objects (attachments). You can use wp_list_pluck to extract their parent's ID into an array. (array_unique and array_filter remove duplicate IDs and empty IDs respectively - this may /may not be desirable).

You can them loop through the IDs and use get_permalink and get_the_title to obtain the post's permalink and title:

$images = get_posts( array(
    'post_type' => 'attachment',
    'numberposts' => -1,
) );
$parents = array_filter(wp_list_pluck($images,'post_parent'));
$parents = array_unique($parents);
echo "<ul>";
foreach ($parents as $id){
    echo "<li><a href='".get_permalink($id)."' >".get_the_title($id)."</a></li>";
}
echo "</ul>";

We can use simply https://wordpress.org/plugins/find-posts-using-attachment/

I hope it is the best way!