Different 'read more' links

Question

Is there an easy way to add another 'read more' link? I'm using the standard 'continue reading' link for some posts but I also want to use a different text like 'more info' for other posts. Can I do this using the_excerpt?

Later update: This are the two standard twentyelven functions that are used for the 'read more' or 'continue reading' links.

function twentyeleven_continue_reading_link() {
    return ' <a href="'. esc_url( get_permalink() ) . '">' . __( '<span class="more">more &#43;</span>', 'twentyeleven' ) . '</a>';
}
function twentyeleven_auto_excerpt_more( $more ) {  
    return ' &hellip;' . twentyeleven_continue_reading_link();
}
add_filter( 'excerpt_more', 'twentyeleven_auto_excerpt_more' );

Based on amit code I though about including an if / else statement in the twentyeleven_auto_excerpt_more function, but I did something wrong because it doesn't work.

This is the code:

function twentyeleven_auto_excerpt_more( $more ) {
$read_more_link_2 = "View Image";
if ( in_category( 'events' )) {
    return $read_more_link_2;
} else {    
    return ' …' . twentyeleven_continue_reading_link();
}
add_filter( 'excerpt_more', 'twentyeleven_auto_excerpt_more' );

I think it's obvious that PHP is not my strong point.

Answer 1

How about using condition to change the readmore links.

Here is an sample code which returns a different read more text based upon the category of post. You should read the official codex page to know more about other conditional tags you can use in wordpress.

Usage - put this code into your theme's functions.php file. This code will replace the continue reading with View Image if post is in image category.

<?php
        function wpse_60184_new_readmore_link( $more ) {
                $read_more_link_2 = "View Image";
                if ( in_category( 'image' )) {
                        return $read_more_link_2;
                }
        }
        add_filter('excerpt_more', 'wpse_60184_new_readmore_link');
?>

Update #1

Put this code at the end of your theme's functions.php

//this will create read morelink when the_excerpt() is used
function wpse_60184_the_excerpt_more($more) {
    in_category( 'events' ) ? $my_read_more_text = 'Read event' : $my_read_more_text = 'Read more'; 
    global $post;
    return '<a href="'. get_permalink($post->ID) . '">'.$my_read_more_text.'</a>';
}
add_filter('excerpt_more', 'wpse_60184_the_excerpt_more');

//this will change the read more link when <!-- more --> is used & the_content()       
function wpse_60184_the_content_more( $more_link, $more_link_text ) {
    in_category( 'events' ) ? $my_read_more_text = 'Read events' : $my_read_more_text = 'Read more';    
    return str_replace( $more_link_text, $my_read_more_text, $more_link );
}
add_filter( 'the_content_more_link', 'wpse_60184_the_content_more', 10, 2 );

The second code is tested with twenty eleven theme and it appears to be working fine on localhost.

• wpse_60184_the_excerpt_more creates a read-more link when the_excerpt() is used in theme
• wpse_60184_the_content_more will replace the default read more link with new one. Will work with <!-- more --> tag.

Answer 2

You can use the excerpt_more filter hook.

I suggest just adding a specific meta data field to posts that this filter would then use to overwrite the default text.

Possible PHP could be as follows (untested):

function custom_excerpt_more( $more ) {
    global $post;

    $custom_read_more = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'read_more_text', true);
    if (!empty($custom_read_more))
        return $custom_read_more;
    else
        return $more;
}
add_filter( 'excerpt_more', 'custom_excerpt_more' );