I'm trying to find the category ID of a post and then use it in the short code below. To find the category id I'm using `<?php the_category_ID(); ?>`, but i'm not sure how to use the output from category id and replace it in include\_categories=. i.e. i want to replace number 4 with the current category ID i got from `<?php the_category_ID(); ?>`.

```
<?php echo do_shortcode('[include_categories="4"]'); ?>

```

i tired doing the following, but it didn't work. Any ideas will be appreciated.

```
<?php echo do_shortcode('[include_categories="<?php the_category_ID(); ?>"]'); ?>

```

I know i can't use php inside another php code, but i'm not sure how to place the category id between the quotation.

Thanks.