Exclude categories with only sticky posts OR count sticky post of specific category

Question

I want to create a page which displays all categories with posts. My goal is to exclude categories which only has sticky post(s). That's the part which isn't working so far.

My current results looks like this:

category 1
post 1
post 2

category 2
post 3
post 4

category 3

category 4
post 6
post 7

...so in this example the wp_query ignores the sticky post of "category 3", but still the category is shown because it has one hidden sticky post. "category 3" should disappear in this example.

$categories = get_categories( array(
                'orderby' => 'name',
                'order'   => 'ASC',
                'parent'  => 0,
                'hide_empty'       => 1,
            ) );

foreach ( $categories as $category ) {
    printf( '<a href="%1$s">%2$s</a><br />',
        esc_url( get_category_link( $category->term_id ) ),
        esc_html( $category->name )
    );

    // COUNT TO TEST IT:
    echo "Posts: " . $category->category_count . " | " ;
    echo "Sticky Posts:" . count(get_option('sticky_posts')) . "<br>";

    $cat_args = array (
        'category_name'     => $category->name,
        'posts_per_page'    => 10,
        'ignore_sticky_posts' => 0,
        'post__not_in' => get_option('sticky_posts')
    );

    $cat_query = new WP_Query( $cat_args );
    if ( $cat_query->have_posts() ) : while ( $cat_query->have_posts() ) : $cat_query->the_post();

    the_title(); ?><br><?php

    endwhile; endif;
    wp_reset_query();

How do I solve this? Maybe be counting sticky_posts of one specific category? I don't know how to address that...

Or is there another solution?

Answer 1

I found a solution by rewiting the foreach and the WP_query structure:

$categories = get_categories( array(
    'orderby'     => 'name',
    'order'       => 'ASC',
    'parent'      => 0,
    'hide_empty'  => 1,
) );

foreach ( $categories as $category ) {

    $cat_args = array (
        'category_name'     => $category->name,
        'posts_per_page'    => 10,
        'ignore_sticky_posts' => 0,
        'post__not_in' => get_option('sticky_posts'),
        'orderby' => 'name',
        'order'   => 'ASC',
        'parent'  => 0,
        'hide_empty'       => 1,
    );

    $cat_query = new WP_Query( $cat_args );

    // The Loop
    if ( $cat_query->have_posts() ) :

        printf( '<br/><a href="%1$s">%2$s</a><br/>',
            esc_url( get_category_link( $category->term_id ) ),
            esc_html( $category->name )
        );

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

            the_title();
            ?><br/><?php

    endwhile; endif;

}