Wordpress - Post_In - Possibility to use most recent as reference

Question

I want to load my most recent post, my 3rd most recent post and my 7th most recent post on my main page during the post fetching loop:

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
    <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

post_in partly gets you there but the post id is not related to how recent your post is so i doubt it if it will do the trick with better understanding.

$query = new WP_Query( array('post__in' => array( 2, 5, 12, 14, 20 ) ) );

Is there a way to load the most recent post, the 3rd most recent and the 7th most recent?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Answer 1

Here is the base model. Increment a variable every loop ($i) then only execute code with the if statement when that variable is the first, fourth or seventh loop through.

$i = 0;
$query = new WP_Query($args);
foreach ($query as $loop) {
    $i++;
    if ($i == 1 || $i == 4 || $i == 7) {
        # code...
    }
}

You could do it with the native 'in_array' function if a user was to actually set them. Maybe in a meta box, theme options or something shnazzy.

$array = array($featured_post, $worst_post, $amazing_post)

$i = 0;
$query = new WP_Query($args);
foreach ($query as $loop) {
    $i++;
    if ( in_array($i, $array) ) {echo 'counts equals your numbers';}
}

Also note that WP gives you a host of array arguments to query by.

'offset' => 5 //begins your new loop at the 5th post in this case. 
'orderby' => 'post_date' // default (I believe)
'order' => 'DESC' // default (I believe)