BuddyPress.org

hi @sallymander,

use a child theme to do this.
Copy members-loop.php file into /your-child-them/buddypress/members/ folder.

Replace line 16
if ( bp_has_members( bp_ajax_querystring( 'members' ) ) ) :

by

if ( bp_has_members( bp_ajax_querystring( 'members' ) . '&populate_extras&type=alphabetical' ) ) :

Added the answer for the upcoming question: i want the list in alphabetical order. 🙂

Reference

Members Loop

No, it will use the first word in the display name.

To use the last word, follow danbp’s instructions and then paste this function in your child-theme/functions.php

function alphabetize_by_last_name( $bp_user_query ) {
    if ( 'alphabetical' == $bp_user_query->query_vars['type'] )
        $bp_user_query->uid_clauses['orderby'] = "ORDER BY substring_index(u.display_name, ' ', -1)";
}
add_action ( 'bp_pre_user_query', 'alphabetize_by_last_name' );

Check your child-theme functions.php file.

At the begin of the file you should have an opening php tag <?php
on the third line you add Shane’s function.

The file must be used without ending php tag ?> So if you added one after the function, remove it.

other possibility:
you entered the snippet with help of a text editor like Word or Sublime or…
Bad idea ! Use a notepad editor or any other raw text editor. And at least, be always aware that php uses mostly straight cotes.

In your case, until you confirm, it was the quotes !

Here is your code, with the right quotes in place:
if ( bp_has_members( bp_ajax_querystring( 'members' ) . '&type=alphabetical' ) ) :

To write code with a text editor, you have to encode and/or save it in UTF-8 without BOM format.

And the best for the end:
when you publish code on this ofrum don’t use the php tags, and in any case, use the code button so it can be viewed in a proper format and won't mess up the whole forum.

Thank you !

Seems you and me don’t use the same file !
The code to change is line 16 at the begin of that file. This place didn’t change since my first answer… 😉

The members-loop.php file in your child theme must be a copy of the one in
buddypress/bp-templates/bp-legacy/buddypress/members/members-loop.php

The modified line included in php tags looks like this once you finished correct copy/pasting
<?php if ( bp_has_members( bp_ajax_querystring( 'members' ) . '&type=alphabetical' ) ) : ?>