WP_Query doesn't return some child pages even though the database shows them

Question

I have several pages all under one parent like this

ParentPage (ID 24)

• ChildPage A
• ChildPage B
• ChildPage C
• ChildPage D
• ChildPage E
• ChildPage F

I am using WP_Query to return all the child pages but only some are coming back. In the DB all the child pages have the same parent ID of 24.

// args
$args = array(
    'numberposts'   => -1,
    'post_type'     => 'page',
    'post_parent' => 24
);

// query
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

// loop through posts
if( $the_query->have_posts() ): ?>
    <?php while( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post();?>
        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
    <?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>

Let's say B & C don't return. I tried assigning it to a new parent (ID25) and modify the query to return child pages of parent 25 - and the missing pages display fine.

I have virtually no plugins other than ACF PRO, which -- prior to making some new pages and fields for said pages recently -- was working fine.

Answer 1

Red faced - but happy to share the results and save someone else the pain. I have been chasing a ghost for the last two days, there is a default number of posts the wp_query returns which is page specific. It seems to be set to 10 posts on the page I am on.

All you have to do is specify the number of posts you want to override the default values. In my case I wanted them all so I added the following to the query args.

'posts_per_page' => -1

I really hope this helps someone, dark couple of days and I was starting to incorrectly point fingers at plugins that were behaving just fine.

Found this out at wp query to get child pages of current page