ACF Repeater Field PHP — Loop Any List of Sub-Fields

Problem solved: we had one field — now we need all four columns from each row, displayed as real HTML.

Each get_sub_field() call reads one column by its Field Name from the row the_row() just activated. Closing PHP (?>) before the HTML and reopening it (<?php) keeps the markup clean and readable — no echo for large HTML blocks. esc_html() wraps every text value going into the page, converting special characters so they can’t break the HTML or introduce security issues.

Problem solved: text fields always return a string, but the Image field can return either a PHP array or null.

When a photo is uploaded, ACF returns an associative array with keys like url, alt, width, and height. When the field is left empty, it returns null. The if ( $photo ) check guards against the null case — skip the block and no broken <img src=""> appears. esc_url() sanitises the URL and esc_attr() sanitises the alt text: both are required any time a dynamic value goes into an HTML attribute.

Problem solved: the template always prints the <ul> wrapper, even when the repeater has zero rows.

The inverted guard — if ( ! have_rows() ) { return; } — exits the file immediately when there is nothing to show. An empty <ul> looks harmless but in a CSS grid or flexbox layout it can create an unexpected gap on the page. Returning early is the cleanest fix: no wrapper, no gap, no markup in the source.

Create template-parts/sections/ inside your theme if it doesn’t exist yet. Save the Step 5 production code as team-members.php inside that folder.

Call the template from any page template, archive, or Flexible Content layout file:

get_template_part( 'template-parts/sections/team-members' );

WordPress looks for the file relative to your theme root, so the path above resolves to wp-content/themes/your-theme/template-parts/sections/team-members.php.

If an editor saves a row without filling in required fields, you get an empty <li> card. Add a continue statement after reading the key field to skip the row entirely:

while ( have_rows( 'team_members' ) ) {
    the_row();

    $name = get_sub_field( 'name' ); // ACF: Text

    if ( ! $name ) {
        continue; // skip this row — the Name field is empty
    }

    // safe to render $name here
}

continue jumps back to the top of the while loop and calls have_rows() again — the empty row is skipped and no blank card appears on the page.

get_row_index() returns the current row number, starting at 1. Use it to add a number to each card — useful for ordered lists, step-by-step instructions, or ranked testimonials:

while ( have_rows( 'team_members' ) ) {
    the_row();

    $index = get_row_index(); // 1 for first row, 2 for second, etc.
    $name  = get_sub_field( 'name' ); // ACF: Text
    ?>
    <li class="team-card">
        <span class="team-card__number"><?php echo $index; ?></span>
        <h3><?php echo esc_html( $name ); ?></h3>
    </li>
    <?php
}

By default, have_rows() reads from the current post in the loop. Pass a post ID as a second argument to target a different post — for example, a global “About” page whose team list you want to show on the homepage:

<?php
// Pass the post ID as a second argument to target a different post's repeater.
$target_id = 42; // change to the ID of the page that has this repeater

if ( have_rows( 'team_members', $target_id ) ) {
    while ( have_rows( 'team_members', $target_id ) ) {
        the_row();
        // get_sub_field() still reads from the active row — no post ID needed here
        $name = get_sub_field( 'name' ); // ACF: Text
        echo esc_html( $name );
    }
}

Note: get_sub_field() does not need the post ID — it always reads from the row that the_row() just activated, regardless of which post the repeater belongs to.