Create four equally sized unordered lists <ul> with indeterminate amount of list items <li>

list-creator.php

    <?php
        /*  This is trickier than it sounds 
        *   You have to think about getting the number of list items and then dynamically generating the lists
        *   In HTML, you have to know when to close the lists too but there aren't finite objects in this model
        *   The following example is using WordPress but you could do this on any PHP app
        */
        
        // 1- Setup WP_query variable to get all location posts
        // posts_per_page=-1 shows all locations
        // orderby=title, orders locations alphabetically by title
        // order=ASC, orders locations a-z
        $args = array(
          'post_type' => 'locations',
          'posts_per_page' => 50,
          'orderby' => 'title',
          'order' => 'ASC'
        );
        $the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

        // 2- Setup variables
        $location_count = $the_query->post_count; // total number of locations with post_count
        $location_key_array = range(0, $location_count - 1); // sets up array key number based # of locations
        $location_list_items = array_fill_keys($location_key_array, ''); // assigns keys to locations array
        $c = 0; // sets up counter for WP while loop

        // 3- Assign each location item into the location_list_items array use WP_query while loop
        if($the_query->have_posts()) {
          while($the_query->have_posts()) {
            $the_query->the_post();

              // 3b- Setup variables to get state name for location
              $stateID = get_field('state', $queried_object_id);
              $stateName = get_term($stateID, 'states');

              // 3c- Put each location's HTML data into location_value string
              $location_value = '<li class="locations-list-item locations-list-item-' . $the_query->current_post . '"><a href="' . get_the_permalink() . '">' . get_the_title() . ', ' . $stateName->name . '</a></li>';

              // 3d- Assign location_value string to $location_list_items array position, $c
              $location_list_items[$c] = $location_value;

              // 3e- Increment counter for next while loop run
              $c++;
          }
        }

        // 4- Set length of the location lists by diving total locations by 4, always rounding up
        // You always round up because you want each list to be as long as possible, with the fourth being uneven with the others if necessary
        $location_items_per_list = ceil( $location_count / 4 );

        // 5 - Set up location list range markers
        $location_loop_start_position = array(
          0 => 0,
          1 => $location_items_per_list,
          2 => ($location_items_per_list * 2),
          3 => ($location_items_per_list * 3),
          4 => ($location_items_per_list * 4),
        );

        // 6- Loop through location items based on ranges from location_loop_start_position markers
        // loop #1 runs 4 times, creates a list, runs 2nd for loop each time
        for( $i = 0; $i < 4; $i++ ) {
          echo '<ul class="locations-list">';
          // loop #2 runs over a range defined by how many items are in location_items_per_list
          // loop condition uses min() to make sure $location_loop_start_position never exceeds total number of location items from $location_count
          for ( $j = $location_loop_start_position[$i]; $j < min($location_loop_start_position[$i + 1], $location_count); $j++) {
            echo $location_list_items[$j];
          }
          echo '</ul>';
        }

        // 7- Reset post info so Wordpress can function and do queries elsewhere
        wp_reset_postdata();
      ?>