How to Display a Random WordPress Post Anywhere on Your Site

In some cases, you may want to display a random post on your WordPress site. In order to make this happen, we can create a new query using the WP_Query function. WP_Query gives you the ability to create multiple loops on any given page of your site, without conflicting with the existing loop.

Use the following code on any page and/or sidebar to display a single random post anywhere on your site.

<?php 
$the_query = new WP_Query('posts_per_page=1&orderby=rand');
while ($the_query->have_posts()) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>       
    <article>
        <h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
        <?php the_content(); ?>
    </article>
<?php
endwhile; 
wp_reset_postdata(); 
?>

As always, with WordPress there are multiple solutions to almost every problem. If you have an alternative solution to using WP_Query, please feel free to share.

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