Pagination On A Single Post In WP

Long posts are easier to read when they are split into several pages, each with its own URL. WordPress supports this out of the box with a page-break tag and one template function. If you want links to the previous and next posts instead, see previous and next post links for single posts.

Step 1: split the post

Open the post in the classic editor’s Text tab and add this tag wherever a new page should start:

<!--nextpage-->

Each tag starts a new page, so four tags split a post into five pages. In the block editor, insert a Page Break block, which adds the same tag.

Step 2: show the page links

Splitting the post is only half the job: visitors also need links to the other pages. Open your theme’s single.php (in a child theme, so updates don’t overwrite it) and add this line:

wp_link_pages();

Place it right below the call that prints the post content:

the_content();

wp_link_pages() prints a “Pages:” line with a numbered link to each page of the current post. It only outputs something when the post contains a page break, so your other posts are not affected. It needs to run inside the Loop, which is why it goes next to the_content().

Many themes already call wp_link_pages() in single.php or in a template part. Check first, or the links will appear twice.

Related articles

• numbered pagination for the blog index: for paging through lists of posts rather than one post
• why template tags need the Loop: the reason wp_link_pages() sits next to the_content()