How Themes Work: Templates & Hierarchy
Theme Basics
Preview
Inside a theme
The template hierarchy
WordPress decides which template file to use based on the type of content being viewed. This order of priority is called the template hierarchy.
- single.php — a single post
- page.php — a single page
- home.php — the blog index
- archive.php — category or tag listings
- 404.php — "not found" pages
- functions.php — the theme's settings and features
How content gets into the template
A template is mostly HTML with PHP functions that pull content from the database. For example, the_title() prints the post title and the_content() prints the body.
Why this matters to you
You do not need to write PHP to use WordPress, but understanding the hierarchy explains why a "page" looks different from a "post", and why some themes feel more flexible than others.
Tip: The block themes of today largely hide this hierarchy — but the concepts underneath still apply.
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