echo category description in single.php

Question

i asked this on SO but got no where. i will try asking here.

this works fine in category.php <?php echo category_description(the_category_id()); ?>

but it does not work in single.php, just the category id shows up not the description.

any ideas, how to get this done?

thanks in advance

Edit:

in category: <?php echo strip_tags(category_description(4)); ?>

in single <?php echo category_description(the_category_id()); ?> cat id = 4

i know i'm not striping the tags..for single

i'm just trying to display the cat desc when in the single post page.

Answer 1

Hi @andrewk -

Try the code that follows the screenshot:

<?php
  $categories = get_the_category();
  foreach($categories as $key => $category) {
    $url = get_term_link((int)$category->term_id,'category');
    $categories[$key] =
      "<dt><a href=\"{$url}\">{$category->name}</a></dt>" .
      "<dd>{$category->category_description}</dd>";
  }
  echo "<dl>\n" . implode("\n",$categories) . "\n</dl>";
?>

Also, <?php echo category_description(the_category_id()); ?> doesn't do what you think it does. What follows will work on your category pages because it assumes the category ID for the category page:

<?php echo category_description(); ?>

FYI, the_category_id() will echo the value of the current category ID, it doesn't actually pass anything to category_description() is looks like was your assumption. Besides, the_category_ID() is deprecated so you wouldn't want to use it anyway. By the way, I'll bet you are seeing an errant number being displayed just before the category description is displayed?