Template File Hierarchy

Template File Hierarchy

When someone visits a URL on your WordPress site, WordPress follows a template hierarchy — a set of rules that determines which PHP template file to use. Understanding this hierarchy is essential for building themes.

How the Hierarchy Works

WordPress looks for the most specific template file first, then falls back to more general ones:

1. Check for the most specific template for the current page type
2. If it doesn't exist, try the next one in the hierarchy
3. If nothing matches, fall back to index.php

Common Template Hierarchy Chains

Page Type	WordPress Looks For (In Order)
Homepage	front-page.php → home.php → index.php
Single Post	single-{post-type}.php → single.php → singular.php → index.php
Page	page-{slug}.php → page-{id}.php → page.php → singular.php → index.php
Category	category-{slug}.php → category-{id}.php → category.php → archive.php → index.php
Tag	tag-{slug}.php → tag.php → archive.php → index.php
Author	author-{nicename}.php → author.php → archive.php → index.php
Search	search.php → index.php
404	404.php → index.php

Visual Example

A visitor goes to /category/javascript/. WordPress looks for:

1. category-javascript.php — specific to the "javascript" category slug ❌ Not found
2. category-5.php — specific to category ID 5 ❌ Not found
3. category.php — generic category template ❌ Not found
4. archive.php — generic archive template ✅ Found! → Uses this

Homepage Templates

The homepage has two settings (Settings → Reading):

Setting	Template Used
"Your latest posts"	front-page.php → home.php → index.php
"A static page"	front-page.php → selected page template → page.php

front-page.php always wins for the homepage, regardless of the reading settings.

Template Files We'll Create

File	What It Handles
front-page.php	The homepage (hero + featured content)
page.php	Static pages (About, Contact)
single.php	Individual blog posts
archive.php	Category, tag, and date archives
search.php	Search results
404.php	Page not found

Conditional Tags

WordPress also provides conditional tags to check the current page type:

<?php if (is_front_page()) : ?>
    <!-- Homepage-specific content -->
<?php elseif (is_single()) : ?>
    <!-- Single post content -->
<?php elseif (is_page()) : ?>
    <!-- Page content -->
<?php endif; ?>

Key Takeaways

• WordPress uses a template hierarchy to decide which template file to load
• It goes from most specific to most general, always falling back to index.php
• front-page.php always controls the homepage display
• Archive templates handle categories, tags, dates, and authors
• Understanding the hierarchy helps you create the right template for each page type