Query with a meta value inside a given range

Question

Quick question: I would like to retrieve some pages/posts with a meta value inside a range, eg) $min<$meta_value<$max

for ordinary $meta_value there was a way to get pages/posts like this:

$args = array(
    'meta_key' => $key,
    'meta_value' => $meta_value, //$min<$meta_value<$max
    'post_type' => 'page',
    'post_status' => 'publish',
...
);
$pages = get_pages( $args );

What is the best solution? should I first get them all and check them in an if condition or should I use $wpdb->get_results($sql,OBJECT) or is there a better way?

From SQL we have:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name BETWEEN value1 AND value2; 

Does the WP_query class have a method to use the BETWEEN keyword inside a query?

Answer 1

In this situation you will want to use the meta_query parameter, an example:

$args = array(
    'post_type'   => 'page',
    'post_status' => 'publish',
    'meta_query'  => array(
        array(
            'key'     => $key,
            'value'   => array($min, $max),
            'compare' => 'BETWEEN',
        ),
    ),
);

$query = new WP_Query( $args );

The possible values for for the 'compare' key are:

• "="
• "!="
• ">"
• ">="
• "<"
• "<="
• "LIKE"
• "NOT LIKE"
• "IN"
• "NOT IN"
• "BETWEEN"
• "NOT BETWEEN"
• "EXISTS" (only in WP >= 3.5)
• "NOT EXISTS" (only in WP >= 3.5)
• "REGEXP" (only in WP >= 3.7)
• "NOT REGEXP" (only in WP >= 3.7)
• "RLIKE" (only in WP >= 3.7)

Default value is "=".

Useful reading:

• https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/#custom-field-post-meta-parameters
• https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_meta_query/