Custom taxonomy, get_the_terms, listing in order of parent > child

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There are probably some better ways to do this but you can always do a three simple foreach loops.

I wrote an example function that does the job well and should serve you as a good starting point:

function print_taxonomic_ranks( $terms="" ){

    // check input
    if ( empty( $terms ) || is_wp_error( $terms ) || ! is_array( $terms ) )
        return;

    // set id variables to 0 for easy check 
    $order_id = $family_id = $subfamily_id = 0;

    // get order
    foreach ( $terms as $term ) {
        if ( $order_id || $term->parent )
            continue;
        $order_id  = $term->term_id;
        $order     = $term->name;
    }

    // get family
    foreach ( $terms as $term ) { 
        if ( $family_id || $order_id != $term->parent )
            continue;
        $family_id = $term->term_id;
        $family    = $term->name;
    }

    // get subfamily
    foreach ( $terms as $term ) { 
        if ( $subfamily_id || $family_id != $term->parent ) 
            continue;
        $subfamily_id = $term->term_id;
        $subfamily    = $term->name;
    }

    // output
    echo "Order: $order, Family: $family, Sub-family: $subfamily";

}

Let it live in your functions.php file and use it in your templates like this:

print_taxonomy_ranks( get_the_terms( $post->ID, 'taxonomic_rank' ) );

NOTE: Looping the same array three times around sounds a bit stupid but on the other hand it’s a quick and easy solution which is easy to read, extend and maintain.

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