functions.php

<?php

/**
 * Display Posts Shortcode, support for 'current' category
 *
 */
function be_dps_current_category( $args, $atts ) {

  if( !empty( $args['category_name'] ) && 'current' == $args['category_name'] ) {
  
    $current_categories = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'category' );
    if( !empty( $current_categories ) && ! is_wp_error( $current_categories ) ) {
    
      $category = array_shift( $current_categories );
      $args['category_name'] = $category->slug;

    }
  }
  return $args;
}
add_filter( 'display_posts_shortcode_args', 'be_dps_current_category', 10, 2 );

Hi Bill,

thank you very much for this. Noticed there's a closing bracket missing:

if( !empty( $current_categories ) && ! is_wp_error( $current_categories )
if( !empty( $current_categories ) && ! is_wp_error( $current_categories ))

But that's where my (poor) php skills end. Hence the question: could you extend this to work with all taxonomies like tags, custom posts etc? Tempted to use the shortcode as general loop replacement since it's so convenient.

Thank you
Ronny