loop - Getting page slug

So if I search 'How to get current page slug', there are bunch of results that suggest to use following snippet.

global $post;
$post_slug = $post->post_name;
echo $post_slug;

But issue is, if I use it on pages where there is default loop, it will return slug of very first post from the default loop. What am I missing here? This answer seems globally accepted, am I doing something wrong?

So if I search 'How to get current page slug', there are bunch of results that suggest to use following snippet.

global $post;
$post_slug = $post->post_name;
echo $post_slug;

But issue is, if I use it on pages where there is default loop, it will return slug of very first post from the default loop. What am I missing here? This answer seems globally accepted, am I doing something wrong?

• loop
• slug

Share Improve this question asked Oct 10, 2017 at 18:40 Zorro HereZorro Here 29911 gold badge55 silver badges1111 bronze badges 5

• Well, on Pages in the default loop it should only contain one post, the Page. Maybe you have a query somewhere messing things up, try using wp_reset_postdata() before your global $post ( and/or $post->post_name) – Howdy_McGee ♦ Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 18:42
• I've had this same problem. @Howdy_McGee is right, you likely have a different query running in a function or somewhere else that you didn't use wp_resent_postdata() – rudtek Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 18:45
• I tried using wp_reset_data(); before calling 'global $post' but it still behaves same. Please correct me, should it work on taxonomy template? or I am doing it wrong by trying to get slug on Taxonomy page. I know that I can use get_queried_object() and term from it. But I have complex scenario so maybe I will have to use combination of both. – Zorro Here Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 18:49
• Taxonomy templates show groups of posts. There are no "Pages" attached to a taxonomy or even a term. Are you trying to get the term or are you trying to get a post attached to the term? – Howdy_McGee ♦ Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 20:13
• I will try to rephrase my problem, I have some common links on multiple pages. Few of it are links to categories and few of it are for posts. I want to highlight those if you are viewing that category or that post. But problem is, If I use any methods to get permalink/slug of current post/taxonomy being viewed, it returns values for first post from loop while viewing taxonomy instead of that taxonomy itself. How can I do that? – Zorro Here Commented Oct 11, 2017 at 6:32

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1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 1

1. If you are inside the loop, you don't need to access global $post, you already have $post variable accessible in your local scope, and this variable holds the data from current loop iteration.

2. If you are outside the loop, then you need to access global $post first, and it will hold whatever data it was left with (the first post in the loop usually).

As I understand, you're trying to output the slug of the current post in your custom loop (not main). In this case, just use $post->post_name;