Make *ALL* Wordpress Categories use their Parent Category Template

Question

I want to change the default template hierarchy behavior, and force all subcategory level pages that don\'t have their own category template file to refer to their parent ca

Answer 1

i was wondering how to do the same thing for heirarchical taxonomies. TheDeadMedic's answer seems to work in that case too w/ a few tweaks:

function load_tax_parent_template() {
    global $wp_query;

    if (!$wp_query->is_tax)
        return true; // saves a bit of nesting

    // get current category object
    $tax = $wp_query->get_queried_object();

    // trace back the parent hierarchy and locate a template
    while ($tax && !is_wp_error($tax)) {
        $template = STYLESHEETPATH . "/taxonomy-{$tax->slug}.php";

        if (file_exists($template)) {
            load_template($template);
            exit;
        }

        $tax = $tax->parent ? get_term($tax->parent, $tax->taxonomy) : false;
    }
}
add_action('template_redirect', 'load_tax_parent_template');

Answer 2

/**
 * Iterate up current category hierarchy until a template is found.
 * 
 * @link http://stackoverflow.com/a/3120150/247223
 */ 
function so_3119961_load_cat_parent_template( $template ) {
    if ( basename( $template ) === 'category.php' ) { // No custom template for this specific term, let's find it's parent
        $term = get_queried_object();

        while ( $term->parent ) {
            $term = get_category( $term->parent );

            if ( ! $term || is_wp_error( $term ) )
                break; // No valid parent

            if ( $_template = locate_template( "category-{$term->slug}.php" ) ) {
                // Found ya! Let's override $template and get outta here
                $template = $_template;
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    return $template;
}

add_filter( 'category_template', 'so_3119961_load_cat_parent_template' );

This loops up the parent hierarchy until an immediate template is found.

Answer 3

The TEMPLATEPATH variable might not work for child themes - looks in parent theme folder. Use STYLESHEETPATH instead. e.g.

$template = STYLESHEETPATH . "/category-{$cat->slug}.php";