My categories are basically authors, and I would like to create a function to list them according to their surname. For example I'd like to have something like:
E:
- Heinz Erhardt
- Albert Einstein
- Eminem
The problem is, I also have authors with only one name (like "Eminem") which I would also like to be sorted according to the letter E.
The only way I know of to do this in wordpress is with the get_terms function and the name__like.
function getAuthors(){
$args = array(
'name__like' => 'E',
);
return get_terms('category', $args );
}
this creates the sql query which only lists categories with an "E" in it:
AND t.name LIKE %E%;
I however need something like:
AND t.name NOT LIKE '% %' AND t.name LIKE E% OR t.name LIKE '% E';
I tried to change the code in the get_terms function in the core file where the query is set up (taxonomies.php, line 1809). However I wasn't successfull and I wouldn't like to change something in the core files.
How can I customize the query passed by the name__like? Are there other better ways I can achieve my goal?
--- EDIT ---
I used TheDeadMedic's solution and was able to list categories according to a specific letter by using for example get_terms( 'my_taxonomy', 'surname=E' ); However this surname argument doesn't work if I want to use the get_terms function multiple times on one page (for example in a loop - if I'd like to create A-Z headings and display the according sorted categories below the headings).
Here's the function I'm trying to execute. The problem is that it just keeps listing the categorys for surname=A under every heading.
function getAuthors()
{
$letters = range('A', 'Z'); // create Alphabet array
foreach ($letters as $letter) {
echo '<h4>' . $letter . '</h4>';
$args = array(
'surname' => $letter
);
$cats = get_terms('category', $args);
foreach ($cats as $cat) {
echo "<ul>";
echo "<li>" . $cat->name . "</li>";
echo "</ul>";
}
}
}
The name__like argument seems to work in the loop though.