Return post tags with description

Question

I've got a shortcode working to return tags that are used on a particular post but can't figure out how to return the description with it.

function returnpost_tags(){
       return get_the_tag_list('',', ',' ');
   }
add_shortcode('post-tags', 'returnpost_tags');

I tried

return get_the_tag_list('',', ',' $description'); 

but obviously something not right

as a bonus I'd like to alternatively as a separate function return the list with description but without the links to the tags archive which is the normal behavior

thanks for the help

Answer 1

This is how you can loop with custom taxonomy.

function returnpost_tags(){
// get tags by post ID 
$post_ID = get_the_ID();
// here, you can add any custom tag
$terms = get_the_terms( $post_ID , 'post_tag' ); 
echo '<ul>';

foreach ( $terms as $term ) {

// The $term is an object, so we don't need to specify the $taxonomy.
$term_link = get_term_link( $term );
$term_ID = $term->term_id;
// If there was an error, continue to the next term.
if ( is_wp_error( $term_link ) ) {
    continue;
}

echo '<li><a href="' . esc_url( $term_link ) . '">' . $term->name . '</a></li>';
echo term_description($term_ID);

   // another option
   // echo  '<p>' . $term->description . '</p>';

}

echo '</ul>';
}
add_shortcode('post-tags', 'returnpost_tags');

You can replace post_tag with your custom taxonomy

$terms = get_terms( 'post_tag' ); 

To get tag's description, you can use one of the below method.

 echo $term->description;

or

 echo term_description($term->term_id);

Answer 2

If you are trying to work with the tags, you can use get_the_tags() in the loop instead:

function my_tag_shortcode(){
    // Get a list of tags
    $tags = get_the_tags();
    $data ='';
    // Run a loop to output the data
    foreach ($tags as $tag) { 
        $data .= '<a href="'.get_tag_link($tag->term_id).'">'. $tag->name .'</a><span>'. $tag->description .'</span>';
    }
    return $data;
}

Now, you have the tag's name, ID, description, and more. Choose whatever you want, based on your needs.