how can I use WP_Query to exclude a specific tag.?

Question

I have the following working code for a query on a specific category and tag slug:

$args = array(
'category_name' => $cat_name,
'tag' => $tag_name,
'post__not_in' => $sticky
 );

 $my_query = new WP_Query( $args );

I can't figure out how to exclude a specific tag name from the query. Do I need the tag ID? How do I get it? Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Use tag__not_in parameter. You have to use tag ID for this parameter

$args = array(
    'category_name' => $cat_name,
    'tag' => $tag_name,
    'post__not_in' => $sticky,
    'tag__not_in' => array($tag_id_1, $tag_id_2)
);

$my_query = new WP_Query( $args );

Answer 2

You need to use 'tag__not_in' and you need the ID of the Tag. Have a look into https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_term_by to retrieve the term object, where the ID is contained.