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Condition Patterns

This page shows ready-to-use condition patterns you can adapt for your projects.

Existence checks​

{% if post.thumbnail %}
    <img src="{{ post.thumbnail.src('large') }}" alt="{{ post.thumbnail.alt ?? post.title }}">
{% endif %}

{% if not post.thumbnail %}
    <img src="/default-image.jpg" alt="">
{% endif %}

Excerpt with fallback to content​

{% if post.excerpt %}
    <p class="excerpt">{{ post.excerpt }}</p>
{% endif %}

{% if not post.excerpt %}
    <p class="excerpt">{{ post.content|striptags|truncate(150) }}</p>
{% endif %}

Custom field​

Only show a section when the field has a value:

{% if post.meta('subtitle') %}
    <p class="subtitle">{{ post.meta('subtitle') }}</p>
{% endif %}

Authentication​

Logged-in vs guest​

user.id is 0 for guests, so it acts as a logged-in check:

{% if user.id %}
    <p>Welcome back, {{ user.display_name }}!</p>
{% endif %}

{% if not user.id %}
    <p><a href="/login">Log in</a> to access more features.</p>
{% endif %}

Role-based content​

{% if 'editor' in user.roles %}
    <a href="{{ post.edit_link }}">Edit this post</a>
{% endif %}
{% if 'editor' in user.roles or 'administrator' in user.roles %}
    <div class="admin-toolbar">
        <a href="{{ post.edit_link }}">Edit</a>
    </div>
{% endif %}

Taxonomy​

Badge based on category​

{% if post.category.slug == 'featured' %}
    <span class="badge badge--featured">Featured</span>
{% endif %}

Tag check​

{% if 'sale' in post.tags %}
    <span class="badge badge--sale">On Sale</span>
{% endif %}

Different layout by category​

Use two Condition blocks with opposite expressions:

{% if post.category.slug == 'video' %}
    <div class="card card--video">
        {{ post.meta('video_embed') }}
        <h3>{{ post.title }}</h3>
    </div>
{% endif %}

{% if post.category.slug != 'video' %}
    <div class="card">
        <img src="{{ post.thumbnail.src('medium') }}" alt="{{ post.thumbnail.alt ?? post.title }}">
        <h3>{{ post.title }}</h3>
    </div>
{% endif %}

Custom fields​

Conditional styling from meta​

{% if post.meta('highlight_color') %}
    <div style="border-left: 4px solid {{ post.meta('highlight_color') }}">
        {{ post.content }}
    </div>
{% endif %}

ACF true/false field​

{% if post.meta('is_featured') %}
    <span class="featured-star">★</span>
{% endif %}

Combined conditions​

Multiple checks with AND​

{% if user.id and 'editor' in user.roles %}
    <a href="{{ post.edit_link }}">Edit this post</a>
{% endif %}

Multiple checks with OR​

{% if post.category.slug == 'news' or post.category.slug == 'updates' %}
    <span class="badge">Latest</span>
{% endif %}

Grouped conditions​

Use parentheses to control evaluation order:

{% if post.post_status == 'publish' and (post.thumbnail and post.excerpt) %}
    <div class="highlight">{{ post.title }}</div>
{% endif %}

Loop + Condition​

Empty loop fallback​

When a loop returns no items, its content doesn't render. Place a Condition block after the loop to show a fallback:

{% for post in get_posts() %}
    <article>
        <h2>{{ post.title }}</h2>
    </article>
{% endfor %}

{% if not posts %}
    <p>No posts found.</p>
{% endif %}

Conditional content inside a loop​

Inside a Loop block, conditions can check each item's data:

{% for post in get_posts() %}
    <article>
        <h2><a href="{{ post.link }}">{{ post.title }}</a></h2>

        {% if post.thumbnail %}
            <img src="{{ post.thumbnail.src('medium') }}" alt="{{ post.thumbnail.alt ?? post.title }}">
        {% endif %}

        {% if post.category.slug == 'featured' %}
            <span class="badge">Featured</span>
        {% endif %}
    </article>
{% endfor %}
Common mistake

When negating a condition with not, make sure you're checking the same expression. {% if post.thumbnail %} and {% if not post.thumbnail %} work as expected, but {% if post.thumbnail %} and {% if post.thumbnail == false %} may not — an empty value is not the same as false.

Next steps​