functions - Return only top-level navigation items from a menu using wp_get_nav_menu_items

I have the following function in my project:

function cr_get_menu_items($menu_location)
{
    $locations = get_nav_menu_locations();
    $menu = get_term($locations[$menu_location], 'nav_menu');
    return wp_get_nav_menu_items($menu->term_id);
}

The function is used in my theme like this:

  <?php $nav = cr_get_menu_items('navigation_menu') ?>
  <?php foreach ($nav as $link): ?>
    <a href="<?= $link->url ?>"><?= $link->title ?></a>
  <?php endforeach; ?>

This currently returns all navigation items present in my menu - parent/top-level and sub navigation. I am wondering how to alter this to exclude all sub navigation items. I only want to display the parent/top-level items.

I have the following function in my project:

function cr_get_menu_items($menu_location)
{
    $locations = get_nav_menu_locations();
    $menu = get_term($locations[$menu_location], 'nav_menu');
    return wp_get_nav_menu_items($menu->term_id);
}

The function is used in my theme like this:

  <?php $nav = cr_get_menu_items('navigation_menu') ?>
  <?php foreach ($nav as $link): ?>
    <a href="<?= $link->url ?>"><?= $link->title ?></a>
  <?php endforeach; ?>

This currently returns all navigation items present in my menu - parent/top-level and sub navigation. I am wondering how to alter this to exclude all sub navigation items. I only want to display the parent/top-level items.

• functions
• theme-development
• menus
• navigation

Share Improve this question edited Apr 26, 2018 at 17:53 Krzysiek Dróżdż 25.6k99 gold badges5353 silver badges7474 bronze badges asked Apr 26, 2018 at 17:50 LizLiz 15511 gold badge22 silver badges88 bronze badges 1

• i don't believe the selected answer adequately answers the OP's question as worded... "Return only top-level navigation items" seems very clear to me to indicate nav menu items with no menu_item_parent... the selected answer does provide a solution IF the question was "Return only top-level pages as navigation items"... @Aness answered below and seems to provide the solution best fitting the OP's question (even if it is disappointing to have to post-filter the menu items). MY QUESTION : can/should we reword the OP's question to better match the answer? – aequalsb Commented Mar 17, 2023 at 19:37

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2 Answers 2

Sorted by: Reset to default 3

Let's take a look at wp_get_nav_menu_items code reference.

It takes two parameters:

• $menu - (int|string|WP_Term) (Required) Menu ID, slug, name, or object,
• $args - (array) (Optional) Arguments to pass to get_posts().

So we can use get_posts args in here... And if we want to get only top-level posts, then post_parent arg comes useful...

So something like this should do the trick:

function cr_get_menu_items($menu_location)
{
    $locations = get_nav_menu_locations();
    $menu = get_term($locations[$menu_location], 'nav_menu');
    return wp_get_nav_menu_items($menu->term_id, array('post_parent' => 0));
}

This worked for me :

function cr_get_menu_items($Your_menu_location)
{
  $menuLocations = get_nav_menu_locations();
  $YourmenuID = $menuLocations[$Your_menu_location];
  $YourNavItems = wp_get_nav_menu_items($YourmenuID);
} 

$Your_menu_location is a string variable representing the menu name like 'navigation_menu' or 'primary' depending on how you registered your menu in functions.php , The function is used in my theme like this:

<?php
  $menuitems = cr_get_menu_items('navigation_menu') ;
  foreach ( (array)$menuitems as $menuitem ) 
  {
    if (!$menuitem->menu_item_parent )
    echo '<a class="nav-link" href="'.$navItem->url.'">'.$navItem->title.' </a>';
  }
?>