Combine get_page_by_title to exclude pages from wp_list_pages

get_page_by_title() source code shows it runs a single mysql query. You can streamline your two calls of the function to be just one query by writing a custom one:

global $wpdb;

$qry = "SELECT ID FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE (post_title = %s OR post_title = %s) AND post_status="publish"";
$sql = $wpdb->prepare($qry, 'title1', 'title2' );
$res = $wpdb->get_results( $sql );

$getIDs = array();
foreach ($res as $result)
    $getIDs[] = $result->ID;

$exclude = implode(',', $getIDs);

However, I think you should make it less simple, adding a cache to it to reduce the database query of _posts for such a small thing:

global $wpdb;

if ( false === ( $exclude = get_transient( 'myplugin_exclude' ) ) ) {
    $qry = "SELECT ID FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE (post_title = %s OR post_title = %s) AND post_status="publish"";
    $sql = $wpdb->prepare($qry, 'title1', 'title2' );
    $res = $wpdb->get_results( $sql );

    $getIDs = array();
    foreach ($res as $result)
        $getIDs[] = $result->ID;

    $exclude = implode(',', $getIDs);
    set_transient( 'myplugin_exclude', $exclude, 60*60*24 ); // once a day
}

wp_list_pages("title_li=&exclude={$exclude}");

and now that it’s lengthy, I suppose wrapping it in a function wouldn’t hurt – help keep things clean and help for reusability:

function get_two_pages_ids_by_titles($title1,$title2,$name) {
    global $wpdb;

    if ( false === ( $exclude = get_transient( $name ) ) ) {
        $qry = "SELECT ID FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE (post_title = %s OR post_title = %s) AND post_status="publish"";
        $sql = $wpdb->prepare($qry, $title1, $title2 );
        $res = $wpdb->get_results( $sql );

        $getIDs = array();
        foreach ($res as $result)
            $getIDs[] = $result->ID;

        $exclude = implode(',', $getIDs);
        set_transient( $name, $exclude, 60*60*24 ); // once a day
    }
    return $exclude;
}

Then you could just simply do:

<?php
    $exclude = get_two_pages_ids_by_titles('title1','title2','listpages_exclude');
    wp_list_pages("title_li=&exclude=".$exclude);
?>

Obviously get_two_pages_ids_by_titles is a little silly and too specific. Accepting an array of titles and returning one of ids would be better – but this should help guid a way to get what you’re after.

🎅🏻 Hope that helps.

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