Custom field as 'orderby' value causes post grouping by publish date

• vanderduke

• October 30, 2015 at 11:30 am

Very odd. I am using WP_Query. Here is my query:

$my_query = new WP_Query('category_name=test-category&posts_per_page=-1&meta_key=sort_name&orderby=meta_value_num&order=ASC');

Why is it grouping my posts this way?

• John Huebner

• October 30, 2015 at 11:40 am

By the sounds of it sort_name is a text field. orderby=meta_value_num WP converts the text field to a number so they all == 0. WP then sorts them by the default order which is by post date. try orderby=meta_value.

• vanderduke

• October 30, 2015 at 11:42 am

You are correct, John. That was it. Thanks so much.