OR statement in queries (custom fields OR categories)

Possiblities:
1. use wpdb to get all those posts
2. use a ‘post_where’ filter so you can use query_posts
3. do two queries, keep track of the IDs in the first loop, then exclude those posts in your 2nd query.
4. do two queries and look at using a plugin such as https://coffee2code.com/wp-plugins/inject-query-posts/ to come up with one query post object

#1 above:

<?php
$my_posts = $wpdb->get_results("
SELECT $wpdb->posts . *
FROM $wpdb->posts
INNER JOIN $wpdb->term_relationships ON ( $wpdb->posts.ID = $wpdb->term_relationships.object_id )
INNER JOIN $wpdb->term_taxonomy ON ( $wpdb->term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id = $wpdb->term_taxonomy.term_taxonomy_id )
JOIN $wpdb->postmeta ON ( $wpdb->posts.ID = $wpdb->postmeta.post_id )
WHERE (
$wpdb->posts.post_type = 'post'
AND $wpdb->posts.post_status = 'publish'
)
AND (
(
$wpdb->term_taxonomy.taxonomy = 'category'
AND $wpdb->term_taxonomy.term_id
IN (
'20'
)
)
OR (
$wpdb->postmeta.meta_key = 'mf_page_type'
AND $wpdb->postmeta.meta_value
IN (
'news', 'gig', 'interview', 'article'
)
)
)
GROUP BY $wpdb->posts.ID
ORDER BY $wpdb->posts.post_date DESC");

if ($my_posts) {
  foreach($my_posts as $post) {
    setup_postdata($post); ?>
    <p><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></p>
    <?php
  } // foreach($posts
} // if ($posts
?>

edit: Missed your last post, gonna try that first. Thanks!!!

Thanks for your post! I can see that you possibilities can do it, but I can’t get a clear solution in my head or programmed.

With query_posts($query_string . "&meta_key=mf_page_type&meta_compare=in&meta_value=news, gig, interview, article"); I show the last 8 posts with meta_key is mf_page_type and the meta_value are news, gig, interview or article.

I still want to show the last 8 posts (and use paging) with meta_key is mf_page_type and the meta_value are news, gig, interview or article, but, if the category id is 21 I don’t care about the meta_value.

I can use another query to retrieve the post id’s with category 21, but then I still have to add those id’s with an OR statement in the query_post. With post_where do I see more options, because the original where is extended with my statement and it supports SQL so OR’s can be used. But I can’t figure out how to set it up in an ordinary loop like:

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post();

Before your if (have_posts())

<?php
$my_posts = $wpdb->get_col("
SELECT $wpdb->posts.ID
FROM $wpdb->posts
INNER JOIN $wpdb->term_relationships ON ( $wpdb->posts.ID = $wpdb->term_relationships.object_id )
INNER JOIN $wpdb->term_taxonomy ON ( $wpdb->term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id = $wpdb->term_taxonomy.term_taxonomy_id )
JOIN $wpdb->postmeta ON ( $wpdb->posts.ID = $wpdb->postmeta.post_id )
WHERE (
$wpdb->posts.post_type = 'post'
AND $wpdb->posts.post_status = 'publish'
)
AND (
(
$wpdb->term_taxonomy.taxonomy = 'category'
AND $wpdb->term_taxonomy.term_id
IN (
'21'
)
)
OR (
$wpdb->postmeta.meta_key = 'mf_page_type'
AND $wpdb->postmeta.meta_value
IN (
'news', 'gig', 'interview', 'article'
)
)
)
GROUP BY $wpdb->posts.ID
ORDER BY $wpdb->posts.post_date DESC");

$paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
$args = array(
	'post__in' => $my_posts,
	'paged' => $paged,
	'posts_per_page' => 2
  );
query_posts($args);

You’re my hero! Thanks!

I’m trying to do the same for the category page, but that messes up my page. I use $catid = get_query_var('cat') to retrieve the category and added

AND (
$wpdb->term_taxonomy.taxonomy = 'category'
AND $wpdb->term_taxonomy.term_id IN ('".$catid."')
)

to the query. The retrieved posts are correct, but my modified sidebar is behaving as if the page is_home() instead of a category page. Can you tell me whats happening?

Thanks again!