wp query - Custom post types - meta_query: search lesson which starts sooner

I have lesson custom post types which have 4 date sub fields (among others): period_a_start, period_b_start, period_c_start, period_d_start.

I want to create a query to get the 8 first lessons that start sooner (ordered) (no matter which period starts sooner).

So if A lesson (period_c_start = 13.12.2018), B lesson (period_a_start = 20.12.2015), C lesson (period_d_start = 14.12.2018) .....

I want to get the lessons back ordered like this: A lesson, C lesson, B lesson ...

So this is what I have tried so far:

$args  = ['post_type'=> 'cp_course', 'numberposts' => 8,'orderby' => 'menuorder', 'order' => 'ASC',
         'meta_query' =>
            array(
                'relation' => 'OR',
                array(
                    'key' => 'period_a_start',
                    'compare' => '>=',
                    'type' => 'numeric',
                    'value' => date("m/d/Y"),
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'period_b_start',
                    'compare' => '>=',
                    'type' => 'numeric',
                    'value' => date("m/d/Y"),
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'period_c_start',
                    'compare' => '>=',
                    'type' => 'numeric',
                    'value' => date("m/d/Y"),
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'period_d_start',
                    'compare' => '>=',
                    'type' => 'numeric',
                    'value' => date("m/d/Y"),
                )
            )];
$course = get_posts($args);

But this approach doesn't guarantee that it will return the 8 lessons that start sooner ordered by date

I have lesson custom post types which have 4 date sub fields (among others): period_a_start, period_b_start, period_c_start, period_d_start.

I want to create a query to get the 8 first lessons that start sooner (ordered) (no matter which period starts sooner).

So if A lesson (period_c_start = 13.12.2018), B lesson (period_a_start = 20.12.2015), C lesson (period_d_start = 14.12.2018) .....

I want to get the lessons back ordered like this: A lesson, C lesson, B lesson ...

So this is what I have tried so far:

$args  = ['post_type'=> 'cp_course', 'numberposts' => 8,'orderby' => 'menuorder', 'order' => 'ASC',
         'meta_query' =>
            array(
                'relation' => 'OR',
                array(
                    'key' => 'period_a_start',
                    'compare' => '>=',
                    'type' => 'numeric',
                    'value' => date("m/d/Y"),
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'period_b_start',
                    'compare' => '>=',
                    'type' => 'numeric',
                    'value' => date("m/d/Y"),
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'period_c_start',
                    'compare' => '>=',
                    'type' => 'numeric',
                    'value' => date("m/d/Y"),
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'period_d_start',
                    'compare' => '>=',
                    'type' => 'numeric',
                    'value' => date("m/d/Y"),
                )
            )];
$course = get_posts($args);

But this approach doesn't guarantee that it will return the 8 lessons that start sooner ordered by date

• custom-post-types
• wp-query
• custom-field
• meta-query

Share Improve this question edited Dec 12, 2018 at 10:19 dvn22 asked Dec 12, 2018 at 8:17 dvn22dvn22 133 bronze badges

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1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 0

I would advice you to store the time as a string instead of a d-m-Y format. Use strtotime() to format it as a long integer. This will help you comparing the strings. I'm not 100% sure if PHP is able to compare string dates. It is however able to compare timetamps as this user mentioned as well: How to compare dates and strings in PHP