Exclude category from get_the_category

Question

I want to exclude a specific category from the loop, here's what I tried:

Original code:

    // auto posts by cat
    if( $bawmrp_options['auto_posts'] == 'cat' || $bawmrp_options['auto_posts'] == 'both' ):
        $cat = get_the_category( $post->ID );
        $cat_ids = wp_list_pluck( $cat, 'term_id' );
        $args['category'] = implode( ',', $cat_ids );
    endif;

My try:

    // auto posts by cat
    if( $bawmrp_options['auto_posts'] == 'cat' || $bawmrp_options['auto_posts'] == 'both' ):
        $cat = get_the_category( $post->ID );
        if ($cat->cat_ID != '68') :
            $cat_ids = wp_list_pluck( $cat, 'term_id' );
        endif;
        $args['category'] = implode( ',', $cat_ids );
    endif;

In my code I tried to exclude the category 68, but actually the best thing would be if the category has children, then it don't enter in the loop, only it's children

Answer 1

$cat_ids = wp_list_pluck( $cat, 'term_id' );

Once you get the category ids as you have mentioned above, you can search for the key having the category id 68 as

$key = array_search('68', $cat_ids);

Once you get the key, you can unset/remove that from the array as

unset($cat_ids[$key]);

Once that is removed, you can use the implode function the way you are currently using.