WordPress Template Hierarchy

The WordPress Template Hierarchy is the system WordPress uses to determine which theme file to use when displaying a particular page on your website. It’s like a flowchart that WordPress follows to choose the best matching template file based on the type of content being requested (e.g., post, page, archive, 404, etc.).

Why It Matters

Understanding the template hierarchy is essential for:

• Customizing how specific content types look
• Building flexible, modular themes
• Creating custom layouts for pages, posts, taxonomies, etc.

Basic Example

If you visit a single blog post, WordPress looks for templates in this order:

1. single-post-{slug}.php
2. single-post.php
3. single.php
4. singular.php
5. index.php

It uses the first file it finds in your theme.

Common Template Files

Template Type	Example File	Used For
Front page	front-page.php	Static homepage
Blog index	home.php	Posts page
Single post	single.php, single-post.php	Blog post details
Page	page.php, page-about.php	Static pages
Archive	archive.php	Category, tag, author, date archives
Category archive	category.php, category-news.php	Category-specific layouts
Custom post type	single-glossary.php	e.g., single-portfolio.php
Search results	search.php	Search result pages
404 error	404.php	Not found pages
Attachment	attachment.php, image.php	Media file pages
Author archive	author.php	Posts by author

Custom Templates

You can also assign custom templates to pages using:

/*
Template Name: Custom Landing Page
*/

This allows the template to be selected in the Page editor.

How WordPress Chooses Templates

1. The user requests a URL (e.g., /category/news)
2. WordPress determines the content type
3. It searches for the most specific matching template
4. If none found, it falls back to more general ones
5. Ultimately, index.php is the final fallback

Developer Tip

To visualize the hierarchy flow, use the Template Hierarchy diagram — a popular reference among theme developers.