wp_query conditionally get posts

Question

My wp_query gets posts starting at the 5th one, proceeding it is another loop for the first four, for styling reasons.

How do I conditionally get the wrapper for these posts only if they exist?

The only way I can get it working is to have the container 'right-hang' before and after the loop, obviously if I put it inside the loop it the markup it spits out is just two ul's.

<?php echo('<ul class="right-hang">'); ?>

                                <?php $featuredPosts = new WP_Query(); ?>

                                <?php $featuredPosts->query('showposts=2&cat=6&offset=4'); ?>

                                <?php while ($featuredPosts->have_posts()) : $featuredPosts->the_post(); ?>


                                <li class="non-stacked">
                                <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
                                    <?php the_post_thumbnail('extrathumb'); ?>
                                    <span><?php the_title(); ?></span>

                                    <span class="f-category">
                                        <?php
                                        $category = get_the_category(); 
                                        echo $category[0]->cat_name;
                                        ?>
                                    </span>
                                </a>
                                </li>




                        <?php endwhile; ?>  

                        <?php echo '</ul>'; ?>

Answer 1

You can check if a query has posts with if( $your_query->have_posts() ), and only output the container if it passes that test.

$featuredPosts = new WP_Query( array(
    'posts_per_page' => 2,
    'cat' => 6,
    'offset' => 4
) );

if ( $featuredPosts->have_posts() ) :

    echo('<ul class="right-hang">');

    while ( $featuredPosts->have_posts() ) :
        $featuredPosts->the_post();

    endwhile;

    echo '</ul>';

endif;