What is the best way to exclude an array of entries?

Question

I have done a "Is featured" switch on articles which works great. I can list the latest 4 featured articles but after that I would like to list the others (Of course they may be featured too). What is the best way to exclude an array of elements when getting elements? Or is there a better solution?

Update 1

{% set allArticles = craft.entries.section('articles').find() %}
{% set featuredArticles = craft.entries.section('articles').featured(1).limit(4).find() %}
{% set notFeaturedArticles = allArticles|without(featuredArticles) %}

This is the code and the notFeaturedArticles returns with the same entries as the allArticles.

Update 2

{% set featuredArticleIds = craft.entries.section('articles').featured(1).limit(4).ids() %}
{% set featuredArticlIdsString = featuredArticleIds | join(', ') %}
{% set notFeaturedArticles = craft.entries.section('articles').id('not '~featuredArticlIdsString) %}

In this case only the first entry is excluded from the not featured articles.

Answer 1

Craft documentation describes how to exclude entries with a given value. In this case, we want a string that looks like: 'and, not id1, not id2, not id3, not id4'

So we need a string that is all of the featured article ids separated by , not. First, get them as an array using ids():

{% set featuredArticleIds = craft.entries.section('articles').featured(1).limit(4).ids() %}

Then convert that array to a string, using twig's join filter:

{% set featuredArticleIdsString = featuredArticleIds | join(', not ') %}

Then, fetch all the articles, but not the featured ones:

{% set notFeaturedArticles = craft.entries.section('articles').id('and, not '~featuredArticleIdsString) %}

[thanks to carlcs for crucial fix]

Answer 2

I can think of two ways to accomplish this:

The without filter:

Fetch all entries and all featured entries. Then remove the latter from the first:

{% set all          = craft.entries.section('news').find() %}
{% set featured     = craft.entries.section('news').featured(1).find() %}
{% set not_featured = all|without(featured) %}

Pro: You can set the limit for each type individually.
Cons: You need two queries (performance).

UPDATE:
I talked with Brad from P&T and he explained that my example is not working, because after fetching, all and featured become objects not arrays. However it might become possible at some point in the future.

For now you would have to do it like this:

{% set allIds = craft.entries.section('news').ids() %}
{% set featuredIds = craft.entries.section('news').light('1').ids() %}
{% set notFeaturedIds = allIds|without(featuredIds) %}

{% set entries = craft.entries.id(notFeaturedIds) %}

---

Sorting:

By default all entries are sorted by date. But you could just as well order by "featured" first and then by date.

{% set all = craft.entries.section('news').order('featured desc, postDate desc').find() %}

Pros: One query.
Cons: You can only set one limit.

Answer 3

The without filter seems to be a bit picky with parameters. This is what did work in the end:

{# Get the Entry Models of the most recent feature acticles #}
{% set featuredArticles = craft.entries.section('articles').featured(1).limit(4) %}

{# Get the Entry Models of all articles without the most recent feature acticles #}
{% set notFeaturedArticles = craft.entries.section('articles').limit(null)
    |without(featuredArticles[0].title)
    |without(featuredArticles[1].title)
    |without(featuredArticles[2].title)
    |without(featuredArticles[3].title)
%}

Or you get the Entry Models over their IDs:

{# Get IDs of all the articles #}
{% set allArticlesIds = craft.entries.section('articles').ids() %}

{# Get IDs of the most recent feature acticles #}
{% set featuredArticlesIds = craft.entries.section('articles').featured(1).limit(4).ids() %}

{# Get IDs of all articles without the most recent feature acticles #}
{% set notFeaturedArticlesIds = allArticlesIds|without(featuredArticlesIds) %}

{# Get the Entry Models #}
{% set featuredArticles = craft.entries.section('articles').id(featuredArticlesIds) %}
{% set notFeaturedArticles = craft.entries.section('articles').id(notFeaturedArticlesIds) %}

Answer 4

For Craft 3, after you get the ids you don't want (that would be an array), create your query to disregard those ids in the following way:

{# omitIds = array of ids you want ommited #}
{% set dontNeedIds = 'elements.id not in ('~omitIds|join(",")~')' %}
{% set news = craft.entries.section("news").where(dontNeedIds).all() %}