Separating Trackbacks/Pings from Comments in WordPress

I was trying to figure out the best way to separate trackbacks/pings from the comments here on the site. I’ve seen a number of tutorials out there, but none seemed to do exactly what I wanted. The code is piece-mealed from a couple of places, but this is how I accomplished it here on the site:

Backup your existing comments.php file associated with your theme! I cannot stress this enough.

Assuming you’re using the default theme, or some variation thereof, you’re going to want to look for this in your comments.php file:

[php]

< ?php if ($comments) : ?>
[/php]

You’re basically going to replace the logic on comments.php from where it says < ?php if ($comments) : ?> (Line 20) to < ?php endif; ?> (Line 61) with the logic below.

Define the number of pings and comments (Source: Sandbox theme):

[php]
< ?php /* NUMBERS OF PINGS AND COMMENTS */ $ping_count = $comment_count = 0; foreach ( $comments as $comment ) get_comment_type() == "comment" ? ++$comment_count : ++$ping_count; ?>
[/php]

Then check to see whether comment_status is set to 'open'. If it is 'open', we then check to make sure the comment_count isn’t equal to zero. Once these conditions are met, I then display only the comments. Some other conditional logic is included, like checking whether the comment’s being held for moderation:

[php]
< ?php if ('open' == $post-> comment_status) : ?>
< ?php if ( $comment_count ) : ?>
< ?php if ($comments) : ?>

Stuff said in regard to this entry:

    < ?php foreach ($comments as $comment) : ?>
    < ?php if (get_comment_type() == "comment"){ ?>

  1. ” alt=”” />

< ?php comment_author_link() ?> < ?php _e('said'); ?>:

< ?php comment_text() ?>

< ?php if ($comment->comment_approved == ‘0’) : ?>

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

< ?php endif; ?>

Posted < ?php comment_date('F j, Y') ?> @
‘, ”); ?>

< ?php /* Changes every other comment to a different class */ if ('alt' == $oddcomment) $oddcomment = ''; else $oddcomment = 'alt'; ?>
< ?php } ?>
< ?php endforeach; /* end for each comment */ ?>

< ?php else : ?>
< ?php endif ?>

< ?php else : ?>

Hey, there’s no comments on this post!

How about being the first?

< ?php endif /* if ( $comment_count ) */ ?>

< ?php else : // comments are closed ?>

< ?php /* Comments are closed */ ?>

Sorry dude, comments are closed on this post. If you had stuff you liked to say about this entry,
feel free to contact me.

< ?php endif; /* if ('open' == $post-> comment_status) */ ?>
[/php]

Then we do the same thing for trackback/pings:

[php]
< ?php if ( pings_open() ) : ?>
< ?php if ( $ping_count ) : ?>

Trackback/Ping Stuff:

    < ?php foreach ($comments as $comment) : ?>
    < ?php if (get_comment_type() != "comment") : ?>

  1. < ?php comment_date('F jS, Y') ?> at < ?php comment_time() ?> < ?php edit_comment_link('e',' ‘, ‘‘); ?>
  2. < ?php /* Changes every other comment to a different class */ if ('alt' == $oddcomment) $oddcomment = ''; else $oddcomment = 'alt'; ?>
    < ?php endif; ?>
    < ?php endforeach; /* end for each comment */ ?>

< ?php else : /* if ( $ping_count ) */ ?>

< ?php endif /* if ( $ping_count ) */ ?>

< ?php else : // pings are a no-go bro. ?>

< ?php /* Pings are a no-go, bro. */ ?>

Pings are a no-go, bro.

Maybe next time?

< ?php endif /* if ( pings_open() ) */ ?>
[/php]

Save the changes and you should be good to go.

Hopefully this is a pretty straightforward implementation… If you have any better ideas, I’d love to hear ’em.