Pagination Without Plugin

Are you looking for a way to create manual pagination without plugin? While there’s probably a plugin for this, we have created a quick code snippet that you can use to create a classic paging navigation and control the output of your content in WordPress.

Instructions:

All you have to do is add this code to your theme’s functions.php file or in a site-specific plugin:

function pagination($prev = '«', $next = '»') {
    global $wp_query, $wp_rewrite;
    $wp_query->query_vars['paged'] > 1 ? $current = $wp_query->query_vars['paged'] : $current = 1;
    $pagination = array(
        'base' => @add_query_arg('paged','%#%'),
        'format' => '',
        'total' => $wp_query->max_num_pages,
        'current' => $current,
        'prev_text' => __($prev),
        'next_text' => __($next),
        'type' => 'plain'
);
    if( $wp_rewrite->using_permalinks() )
        $pagination['base'] = user_trailingslashit( trailingslashit( remove_query_arg( 's', get_pagenum_link( 1 ) ) ) . 'page/%#%/', 'paged' );

    if( !empty($wp_query->query_vars['s']) )
        $pagination['add_args'] = array( 's' => get_query_var( 's' ) );

    echo paginate_links( $pagination );
};

Optionally, use this code for the $pagination array to display a different look:

$pagination = array(
  'base' => @add_query_arg('paged','%#%'),
  'format' => '',
  'total' => $wp_query->max_num_pages,
  'current' => $current,
  'prev_text' => __('« Previous'),
  'next_text' => __('Next »'),
  'end_size' => 1,
  'mid_size' => 2,
  'show_all' => true,
  'type' => 'list'
);

Next you can add the pagination using the pagination(). function. You can add it somewhere outside the loop, but inside the if( have_post() ) statement of your template file.

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : ?>
    <?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
        // post goes here
    <?php endwhile; ?>

    <div class="pagination"><?php pagination('»', '«'); ?></div>

<?php endif; ?>

WordPress also enables you to add custom CSS classes that you can use to manage the look of your new navigation. See this CSS example to figure out how to style it:

.page-numbers { font-size: 15px; }
.page-numbers.current { color: #222; }
.page-numbers .dots { letter-spacing: 1px }
a.page-numbers  { font-size: 14px; color: #3888ff; }

Note: If this is your first time adding code snippets in WordPress, then please refer to our guide on how to properly add code snippets in WordPress, so you don’t accidentally break your site.

If you liked this code snippet, please consider checking out our other articles on the site like: 43 best photography themes for WordPress and how to easily switch from Squarespace to WordPress.