ID; // Arguments used by all the queries below $base_args = array( 'orderby' => 'rand', 'post__not_in' => $exclude, 'post_status' => 'publish', 'posts_per_page' => 4, ); // Check categories first $categories = wp_get_post_categories( $post->ID ); if ( $categories ) { $categories_args = $base_args; $categories_args['category__in'] = $categories; $categories_posts = get_posts( $categories_args ); foreach( $categories_posts as $categories_post ) { $related_post_ids[] = $categories_post->ID; } } // If we don't get four posts from that, fill up with posts selected at random if ( count( $related_post_ids ) < 4 ) { // Only with as many as we need though $random_post_args = $base_args; $random_post_args['posts_per_page'] = 4 - count( $related_post_ids ); $random_posts = get_posts( $random_post_args ); foreach( $random_posts as $random_post ) { $related_post_ids[] = $random_post->ID; } } // Get the posts we've scrambled together $related_posts_args = $base_args; $related_posts_args['include'] = $related_post_ids; $related_posts = get_posts( $related_posts_args ); if ( $related_posts ) : ?>