How to Add Page-Pagination Functionality to WordPress Without a Plugin

Since version 2.1, WordPress have a built-in function called paginate_links(), that can be used to create to paginate your blog without using any plugin? Here is how how to use that function to create pagination for your WordPress site.

<?php
   global $wp_query;
   $total = $wp_query->max_num_pages;
   // only bother with the rest if you have more than 1 page!
   if ( $total > 1 )  {
      // get the current page
      if ( !$current_page = get_query_var('paged'))
         $current_page = 1;
         // structure of "format" depends on whether we're using pretty permalinks
         $format = empty( get_option('permalink_structure') ) ? '&page=%#%' : 'page/%#%/';
         echo paginate_links(array(
            'base'      => get_pagenum_link(1) . '%_%',
            'format'    => $format,
            'current'   => $current_page,
            'total'     => $total,
            'mid_size'  => 4,
            'type'   => 'list'
         )
      );
   }
?>