Magento Tutorials Display Categories and SubCategories in Magento

A newer, better version of this post has been written.

Category Navigation Listings in Magento eCommerce

The majority of Magento websites out there list their top level categories as well as the current categories sub-categories. This feature is commonly requested on forums so I decided to write a small post about it.

Rather than just write out the code, I will show you a few variations so that you can get the right one for you.

All of the following code samples can be copy and pasted into ANY template file and will function correctly.

Display Top Level Categories Only

<?php
/*
 * http://fishpig.co.uk - Magento Tutorials
 *
 * Display top level categories
 *
**/
?>
<?php $_helper = Mage::helper('catalog/category') ?>
<?php $_categories = $_helper->getStoreCategories() ?>
<?php if (count($_categories) > 0): ?>
	<ul>
		<?php foreach($_categories as $_category): ?>
			<li>
				<a href="<?php echo $_helper->getCategoryUrl($_category) ?>">
					<?php echo $_category->getName() ?>
				</a>
			</li>
		<?php endforeach; ?>
	</ul>
<?php endif; ?>

Display Top Level Categories and ALL Subcategories

<?php
/*
 * http://fishpig.co.uk - Magento Tutorials
 *
 * Display top level categories and subcategories
 *
**/
?>
<?php $_helper = Mage::helper('catalog/category') ?>
<?php $_categories = $_helper->getStoreCategories() ?>
<?php $currentCategory = Mage::registry('current_category') ?>
<?php if (count($_categories) > 0): ?>
	<ul>
		<?php foreach($_categories as $_category): ?>
			<li>
				<a href="<?php echo $_helper->getCategoryUrl($_category) ?>">
					<?php echo $_category->getName() ?>
				</a>
				<?php $_category = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($_category->getId()) ?>
				<?php $_subcategories = $_category->getChildrenCategories() ?>
				<?php if (count($_subcategories) > 0): ?>
					<ul>
						<?php foreach($_subcategories as $_subcategory): ?>
							<li>
								<a href="<?php echo $_helper->getCategoryUrl($_subcategory) ?>">
									<?php echo $_subcategory->getName() ?>
								</a>
							</li>
						<?php endforeach; ?>
					</ul>
				<?php endif; ?>
			</li>
		<?php endforeach; ?>
	</ul>
<?php endif; ?>

Display Top Level Categories and Current Categories SubCategories

<?php
/*
 * http://fishpig.co.uk - Magento Tutorials
 *
 * Display top level categories and
 * subcategories of the current category
 *
**/
?>
<?php $_helper = Mage::helper('catalog/category') ?>
<?php $_categories = $_helper->getStoreCategories() ?>
<?php $currentCategory = Mage::registry('current_category') ?>
<?php if (count($_categories) > 0): ?>
	<ul>
		<?php foreach($_categories as $_category): ?>
			<li>
				<a href="<?php echo $_helper->getCategoryUrl($_category) ?>">
					<?php echo $_category->getName() ?>
				</a>
				<?php if ($currentCategory &amp;&amp; $currentCategory->getId() == $_category->getId()): ?>
					<?php $_category = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($_category->getId()) ?>
					<?php $_subcategories = $_category->getChildrenCategories() ?>
					<?php if (count($_subcategories) > 0): ?>
						<ul>
							<?php foreach($_subcategories as $_subcategory): ?>
								<li>
									<a href="<?php echo $_helper->getCategoryUrl($_subcategory) ?>">
										<?php echo $_subcategory->getName() ?>
									</a>
								</li>
							<?php endforeach; ?>
						</ul>
					<?php endif; ?>
				<?php endif; ?>
			</li>
		<?php endforeach; ?>
	</ul>
<?php endif; ?>