How do I include the category next to the title of a post?

Question

On the main page in WordPress all I want is the category to come before the title of the article posted. So for example if it's a Review, I'd like the article name to be Review: Super 8.

Okay so if you go to my site www.r3entertainment.org it displays the names of each of the articles on the main page. What I want, is for the name of the category the article is in to be placed before the title just on the main page there so people know what type of article it is.

And by the names of the articles on the main page I don't mean the 'Latest Content' widget. I mean the boxes that appear below the huge slider box. Each box has a different article in it. I mean if you can get it to effect the latest content widget too that'd be cool. Didn't think about that. xD

Thanks.

The new code looks like this:

<!--THE POST-->
$getCAT = get_the_category();
$firstCAT = $currentCat[0]->cat_name;<?php if(have_posts()): ?><?php while(have_posts()): ?><?php the_post(); ?>
            <div <?php post_class(); ?> id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>"> 
             <div class="date"><div class="date_content"><?php the_time('dS'); ?> <?php the_time('M'); ?><span><?php the_time('Y'); ?></span></div></div>
               <div class="post_content">
                <h2 class="postitle"><a href="<?php the_permalink();?>"><?php the_title( $firstCAT,"",true ); ?> </a></h2>
                <div class="single_metainfo">by <?php the_author(); ?></div>
                <?php the_content(); ?>
                <?php wp_link_pages('<p class="pages"><strong>'.__('Pages:').'</strong> ', '</p>', 'number'); ?>
            </div> 

Did I do something wrong?

Answer 1

you've already had a comment about the lack of detail, so I'll try and guess what you want to do.

Assuming you're inside 'the loop' and your title is being echo'd out with:

<?php the_title(); ?>

..then the easiest way for you to show the title first is to do this:

<?php 
$catobjarray = get_the_category(); 
if($catobjarray[0]){ echo $category[0]->cat_name;}
?>

Caveat of this method: As a post can belong to more than one category, this code will only display the first cat the post is in.

Have a look at the codex for get_the_category() HERE.

Answer 2

Main problem with the other snippets is, that they place get_the_cagetory() function outside to loop, yes you can use it like this, but with passing $post->ID parameter. It would be wise to put that code snippet inside loop and avoid unnecessary global call.

Trevor's loop after this would be something like:

<!-- The Loop -->
<?php if( have_posts() ): while(have_posts()): the_post(); ?>
    <div <?php post_class(); ?> id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>"> 
        <div class="date"><div class="date_content"><?php the_time('dS'); ?> <?php the_time('M'); ?><span><?php the_time('Y'); ?></span></div></div>
            <div class="post_content">
            <?php $category = get_the_category();
            $first_cat = ( !empty( $category[0] ) ) ? $category[0]->cat_name : ''; ?>
            <h2 class="postitle"><a href="<?php the_permalink();?>"><?php the_title( "$first_cat: " ); ?></a></h2>
                <div class="single_metainfo">by <?php the_author(); ?></div>
                <?php the_content(); ?>
                <?php wp_link_pages('<p class="pages"><strong>'.__('Pages:').'</strong> ', '</p>', 'number'); ?>
            </div> 

note lines after <div class="post_content">.

My second solutions is using the_title filter.

function mamaduka_category_perefix_title( $title, $id ) {
    $category = get_the_category( $id );

    if ( ! empty( $category[0] ) )
        $title = sprintf( '%1$s: %2$s', $category[0]->cat_name, $title );

    return $title;
}
add_filter( 'the_title', 'mamaduka_category_perefix_title', 10, 2 );

But this code has side effect. It will prefix every title inside the loop, including widgets like "Recent Posts".

Answer 3

The simplest way to achieve the desired result is,

$getCAT = get_the_category();
$firstCAT = $currentCat[0]->cat_name;
<?php the_title( $firstCAT,"",true ); ?> 

$getCAT : gets the list of categories where the current post is posted $firstCAT : store the first category of the current post (in case the post is posted in more than one category)

the third line of code is the default wordpress title function that allows you to add something before/after the wordpress title , so i simply pass $firstCAT is the paramter inside the_title

The code is tested and working fine , it outputs the following,

[Category where the post is posted][Post Title]

Usage:

place,

 $getCAT = get_the_category();
    $firstCAT = $currentCat[0]->cat_name;

before <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

then find this line of code in your index.php or single.php,

<?php the_title(); ?>

replace it with,

<?php the_title( $firstCAT,"",true ); ?>