Setting a default placeholder image WITHOUT link

Question

Can anyone help?

I'm trying to show a default placeholder image on my posts when the user hasn't uploaded an image.

I have the below code BUT i need to rewrite it so that the link isn't applied to the placeholder image - only the uploaded image.

Unfortunately my PHP isn't great at all so would appreciate some help..

<div class="imageContainer"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
           <?php
    // Must be inside a loop.

    if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {
        the_post_thumbnail('size-2');
    }
    else {
        echo '<img src="' . get_bloginfo( 'stylesheet_directory' ) . '/images/shared/placeholder.jpg" />';
    }
    ?>
            </a></div>

Answer 1

<div class="imageContainer">
    <?php if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) : ?>
        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail('size-2'); ?></a>
    <?php else : ?>
        <img src="<?php echo get_bloginfo( 'stylesheet_directory' ); ?>/images/shared/placeholder.jpg" />
    <?php endif; ?>
</div>

Answer 2

You can filter the thumbnail HTML before it is printed out. If it is empty – return the placeholder.

This should go into your theme’s functions.php:

add_filter( 'post_thumbnail_html', 'wpse_63591_default_thumb' );

function wpse_63591_default_thumb( $html )
{
    if ( '' !== $html )
    {
        return '<a href="' . get_permalink() . '">' . $html . '</a>';
    }

    return '<img src="' . get_bloginfo( 'stylesheet_directory' ) . '/images/shared/placeholder.jpg" />';    
}

In your template just use

the_post_thumbnail('size-2');

No conditionals or complicated PHP needed anymore. :)