Display the Comment Count Using a Shortcode

Are you looking for a way to display the comment count for your posts? While there’s probably a plugin for this, we have created a quick code snippet that you can use to display the comment count using a shortcode.

Instructions:

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

function comments_shortcode($atts) {
	extract( shortcode_atts( array(
		'id' => ''
	), $atts ) );

	$num = 0;
	$post_id = $id;
	$queried_post = get_post($post_id);
	$cc = $queried_post->comment_count;
		if( $cc == $num || $cc > 1 ) : $cc = $cc.' Comments';
		else : $cc = $cc.' Comment';
		endif;
	$permalink = get_permalink($post_id);

	return '<a href="'. $permalink . '" class="comments_link">' . $cc . '</a>';

}
add_shortcode('comments', 'comments_shortcode');

[comments id="23" ]

In the above code, [comments id="23" ] is the shortcode that you can use to display the comment count by replacing the post ID in the shortcode.

Note: If this is your first time adding code snippets in WordPress, then please refer to our guide on how to properly copy / paste 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: 46 biggest brands in the world using WordPress actively and 30 ways to make money online blogging.