Its a wordpress question, I'm trying to figure out what this is..

PHP Code:

      <?php
        $tmp_query = $wp_query;
        query_posts('showposts=3&cat=' . get_cat_ID(dp_settings('featured')));
        
        if (have_posts()) :
        
        while (have_posts()) : the_post(); 
        ?>

particularly

PHP Code:

 $tmp_query = $wp_query; 


could someone tell me what it is and what its for?

That line is making a copy of the old query. $wp_query will be overwritten by the call to query_posts.

so what would be an example of that happening?
thank you for the quick reply

By calling query_posts you are creating a new query. You can restore the query after you are done with the new query like so:

PHP Code:

$wp_query = $tmp_query; 


oh so tmp is like temporary?

Oh Ok yea I see what you mean now

PHP Code:

    <?php
    $wp_query = $tmp_query;
    if (have_posts()) :
    while (have_posts()) : the_post(); 
    ?>

This one started another loop and like you said it changed it back

thank you for helping me