WP_query to get the first two latest posts, then another loop to get the next three

Question

My ultimate goal is to list the latest 5 posts, regardless of category.

I would first like to make a WP_Query to get the latest two posts and insert them in to a specific HTML structure.

Then I would like to make another WP_Query to get the next three posts and insert them in to a differing HTML structure.

I've tried a few code snippets and what happens is each WP_Query starts from the latest post in both HTML structures. Is there an arg that I can use to specifically tell the second query to skip the first two posts?

Answer 1

Run one wp_query for post_per_page = 2 and get the IDs of these 2 posts in an array to be excluded in the next 3 posts needed

<?php

    // The Query
    $next_args = array(
                    'post_type' => '<your_post_type>',
                    'post_status' => 'publish',
                    'posts_per_page'=>2,
                    'order'=>'DESC',
                    'orderby'=>'ID',
                    );

    $the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

    // The Loop
    if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
        $not_in_next_three = array();
        while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
            $the_query->the_post();
            //your html here for latest 2
            $not_in_next_three[] = get_the_ID();
        }

    } else {
        // no posts found
    }
    /* Restore original Post Data */
    wp_reset_postdata();

Now the array created above to be excluded in the wp_query fetching the next 3 posts

// The Query
$next_args = array(
                'post_type' => '<your_post_type>',
                'post_status' => 'publish',
                'posts_per_page'=>3,
                'order'=>'DESC',
                'orderby'=>'ID',
                'post__not_in'=>$not_in_next_three
                );
$next_the_query = new WP_Query( $next_args );

// The Loop
if ( $next_the_query->have_posts() ) {
    while ( $next_the_query->have_posts() ) {
        $next_the_query->the_post();
        //your html here fir latest next 3

    }

} else {
    // no posts found
}
/* Restore original Post Data */
wp_reset_postdata();

?>

Answer 2

You can use WP_Query's pagination paramters.

However, using two queries to accomplish this objective is inefficient. A better solution it to use one query and alter your markup based on the value of WP_Query's $current_post property, which (when used in the loop) reflects the index of the post currently being processed within the current page of results.