the_category exclude categories

Sure is. Use the code below in your theme functions.php file. I also included conditionals here as well in case someone wants to exclude something based on that. The first $exclude sets the global settings (these categories will be excluded always – cat-slug1, cat-slug2), and the others push additional variables onto $exclude in certain scenarios. You don’t need the conditional lines, but I did, so I thought I’d share them.

// Exclude selective categories from the_category - GLOBAL SETTINGS
function the_category_filter($thelist,$separator=' ') {
    if(!defined('WP_ADMIN')) {
        //list the category names to exclude
        $exclude = array('cat-slug1','cat-slug2');
        if(is_category('2')) {
        array_push($exclude,'cat-slug3','cat-slug4'); }
        if(is_category('3')) {
        array_push($exclude,'cat-slug5'); }
        $cats = explode($separator,$thelist);
        $newlist = array();
        foreach($cats as $cat) {
            $catname = trim(strip_tags($cat));
            if(!in_array($catname,$exclude))
                $newlist[] = $cat;
        }
        return implode($separator,$newlist);
    } else
        return $thelist;
}
add_filter('the_category','the_category_filter',10,2);

Much credit to Nick for help on this.

use wp_list_categories

<ul>
<?php
wp_list_categories('orderby=name&show_count=1&exclude=10,5,6'); ?>
</ul>

Sorry that last one won’t help. But this will:
put the following in your functions.php

function exclude_post_categories($excl=''){
   $categories = get_the_category($post->ID);
      if(!empty($categories)){
      	$exclude=$excl;
      	$exclude = explode(",", $exclude);
      	foreach ($categories as $cat) {
      		$html = '';
      		if(!in_array($cat->cat_ID, $exclude)) {
      		$html .= '<a href="' . get_category_link($cat->cat_ID) . '" ';
      		$html .= 'title="' . $cat->cat_name . '">' . $cat->cat_name . '</a>';
      		echo $html;
      		}
	      }
      }
}

You can call this function in your template inside the loop where you want your categorylinks to appear:
<?php exclude_post_categories('1,5'); ?>

just change the comma seperated list with your category id’s. They will be excluded

Awesome.
I tried keesie’s code first, since I want the categories to appear on some pages but not all. It did the trick! Thanks for the help!

@keesiemeijer,
based on your code above, what would be the best way to add in a separator, but not have it show up after the last link was outputted (for example, not have a “,” show up after the last link)

this worked for me

function exclude_post_categories($excl='', $spacer=' '){
   $categories = get_the_category($post->ID);
      if(!empty($categories)){
      	$exclude=$excl;
      	$exclude = explode(",", $exclude);
		$thecount = count(get_the_category()) - count($exclude);
      	foreach ($categories as $cat) {
      		$html = '';
      		if(!in_array($cat->cat_ID, $exclude)) {
				$html .= '<a href="' . get_category_link($cat->cat_ID) . '" ';
				$html .= 'title="' . $cat->cat_name . '">' . $cat->cat_name . '</a>';
				if($thecount>1){
					$html .= $spacer;
				}
			$thecount--;
      		echo $html;
      		}
	      }
      }
}

Format like
<?php exclude_post_categories('1,5',', '); ?>

Wow people thanks for this, it’s just what I was looking for. Can anyone explane it to me how i can separate the outcome with a comma or a space? Its showing up in a straight line with no space.

Also I have a parent category with many children and I have to write all the children to exclude. Is there a way to just declare the parent and it would not show the children.

Thanks again.

Hi,

I’ve just modified this code to exclude all children of a parent category, a feature that I saw requested elsewhere, but those threads were closed so I figured I’d share the code here.

The code is giving me one problem, though, if parent categories are removed, it’s adding the separator as needed, but if there are no categories that need removing, it doesn’t add the separator. Any ideas anybody?

Code below:

[Code moderated as per the Forum Rules. Please use the pastebin]

Aha. Just figured the problem that was causing the separators to drop out.

Modified code below:
https://pastebin.com/2zTFwxHK

also, note that the syntax of the call is changed so that the Parent Categories to exclude are referenced by name rather than by id. ID would be better, but I was having trouble getting the parent categories’ IDs. So the function would be called like:

<?php exclude_post_categories('Excluded',', '); ?>

Thanks ocshawn! That function helped me a lot. Thanks for sharing.

Hello I have just used the code with the commas included and removing 3 categories (Events, Featured, Free) but only if there is more than 2 categories do the commas come into play.

I have pasted the code from above exactly the same. Any ideas?

You can see it working here

https://www.thewhatwherewhen.org

in the small white boxes with a square image to the left
each one has:
What: (followed by categories) – This is the <?php the_category(‘, ‘) ?>

following the next ‘What:’ is this code.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Claire

this is interesting, it works for the one on the right but not the one on the left

https://www.thewhatwherewhen.org/categories.png