Echo Category Nicename

Question

I am trying to echo the category nicename to reference a category image stored in my images folder in another folder called categories.

I am using this code:

$category = get_the_category();
echo '<img src="'.get_bloginfo('template_directory').'/images/categories/'.$category->category_nicename.'.png">';

But all it returns is this:

<img src="http://www.fightfansradio.com/wp-content/themes/FFR2/images/categories/.png">

What I want is:

<img src="http://www.fightfansradio.com/wp-content/themes/FFR2/images/categories/categorynicename.png">

I haven't been able to figure out what is wrong with my code. Can I get some help please? Thanks!

Answer 1

*get_the_category();* is designed to return multiple categories. You have to provide index for deciding which categories' nicename you want to echo.

Something like below,

$category = get_the_category();
echo '<img src="'.get_bloginfo('template_directory').'/images/categories/'.$category[0]->category_nicename.'.png">';

Answer 2

refer to the codex entry for get_the_category:

Returns an array of objects, one object for each category assigned to the post.

Since you can assign more than one category to a post, the function returns an array of objects. You have to reference the first element of the array to get the first category nicename:

$category = get_the_category();
echo $category[0]->category_nicename;

Answer 3

This get_the_category() function gets all the categories.

You should use this:

// Execute only if on category page
if (is_category()) {
  //get category ID from current page URL
  $cat_id = get_query_var('cat');
  //get category object with your current category ID
  $category = get_category ($cat_id);
  // echo category nicename from that category object
  echo '<img src="'.get_bloginfo('template_directory').'/images/categories/'.$category->category_nicename.'.png">';
 }

Cheers.