get_the_content( string $more_link_text = null, bool $strip_teaser = false, WP_Post|object|int $post = null ): string

Compatibility

Present in every tracked release (6.7.7 to 7.1.0), and compiles on PHP 7.4 through 8.6-dev.

Parameters

$more_link_textstringoptional

Content for when there is more text.Default: null

$strip_teaserbooloptional

Strip teaser content before the more text. Default false.Default: false

$postWP_Post|object|intoptional

WP_Post instance or Post ID/object. Default null.Default: null

Return value

string

Performance profile

How much work a call to get_the_content() does, and what it touches: the algorithmic scaling, the Zend instruction count per call across PHP versions, the hooks it hands control to, and the core code that calls it. Measured from the compiled opcodes, not a stopwatch, so every number is identical on any machine running the same PHP version, and every function in core is ranked by cost.

Cost class

Heavy

Reaches the database via get_post().

Scaling

Constant

No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.

Instructions

32–150

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 173.

Plugin surface

1 hook

Third-party callbacks on 'the_content_more_link' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by

12

12 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.

What it touches

• querycontent queryget_post()called directly
• hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()called directly
• optionoption read or writeget_option()one call below get_the_content()

Further down the call graph this can also reach cache, serialize and transient. Those are the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.

What one call costs · 49 distinct outcomes

One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost get_the_content() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

This body has more branch combinations than are worth enumerating, so the table covers the outcomes found first rather than every one that exists.

Hooks and filters fired · 1

One hook fires while get_the_content() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   apply_filters( the_content_more_link )filterline 376 (+97 into the body)

   Filters the Read More link text.

Uses · 13

• get_post()Retrieves post data given a post ID or post object.
• did_action()Retrieves the number of times an action has been fired during the current request.
• generate_postdata()Generates post data.
• __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
• the_title_attribute()Sanitizes the current title when retrieving or displaying.
• post_password_required()Determines whether the post requires password and whether a correct password has been provided.
• get_the_password_form()Retrieves protected post password form content.
• has_block()Determines whether a $post or a string contains a specific block type.
• wp_kses_no_null()Removes any invalid control characters in a text string.
• str_contains()Polyfill for `str_contains()` function added in PHP 8.0.
• apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
• get_permalink()Retrieves the full permalink for the current post or post ID.

Used by · 12

• get_the_content_feed()Retrieves the post content for feeds.
• render_block_core_post_content()Renders the `core/post-content` block on the server.
• the_content()Displays the post content.
• the_content_rss()Display the post content for the feed.
• twenty_twenty_one_print_first_instance_of_block()Print the first instance of a block in the content, and then break away.
• twentyeleven_get_first_url()Return the first link from the post content. If none found, the post permalink is used as a fallback.
• twentyeleven_get_gallery_images()Retrieve the IDs for images in a gallery.
• twentyeleven_url_grabber()Return the URL for the first link found in the post content.
• twentyfifteen_get_link_url()Return the post URL.
• twentyten_get_gallery_images()Retrieve the IDs for images in a gallery.
• twentythirteen_get_link_url()Return the post URL.
• wp_trim_excerpt()Generates an excerpt from the content, if needed.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

279function get_the_content( $more_link_text = null, $strip_teaser = false, $post = null ) {280	global $page, $more, $preview, $pages, $multipage;281 282	$_post = get_post( $post );283 284	if ( ! ( $_post instanceof WP_Post ) ) {285		return '';286	}287 288	/*289	 * Use the globals if the $post parameter was not specified,290	 * but only after they have been set up in setup_postdata().291	 */292	if ( null === $post && did_action( 'the_post' ) ) {293		$elements = compact( 'page', 'more', 'preview', 'pages', 'multipage' );294	} else {295		$elements = generate_postdata( $_post );296	}297 298	if ( null === $more_link_text ) {299		$more_link_text = sprintf(300			'<span aria-label="%1$s">%2$s</span>',301			sprintf(302				/* translators: %s: Post title. */303				__( 'Continue reading %s' ),304				the_title_attribute(305					array(306						'echo' => false,307						'post' => $_post,308					)309				)310			),311			__( '(more&hellip;)' )312		);313	}314 315	$output     = '';316	$has_teaser = false;317 318	// If post password required and it doesn't match the cookie.319	if ( post_password_required( $_post ) ) {320		return get_the_password_form( $_post );321	}322 323	// If the requested page doesn't exist.324	if ( $elements['page'] > count( $elements['pages'] ) ) {325		// Give them the highest numbered page that DOES exist.326		$elements['page'] = count( $elements['pages'] );327	}328 329	$page_no = $elements['page'];330	$content = $elements['pages'][ $page_no - 1 ];331	if ( preg_match( '/<!--more(.*?)?-->/', $content, $matches ) ) {332		if ( has_block( 'more', $content ) ) {333			// Remove the core/more block delimiters. They will be left over after $content is split up.334			$content = preg_replace( '/<!-- \/?wp:more(.*?) -->/', '', $content );335		}336 337		$content = explode( $matches[0], $content, 2 );338 339		if ( ! empty( $matches[1] ) && ! empty( $more_link_text ) ) {340			$more_link_text = strip_tags( wp_kses_no_null( trim( $matches[1] ) ) );341		}342 343		$has_teaser = true;344	} else {345		$content = array( $content );346	}347 348	if ( str_contains( $_post->post_content, '<!--noteaser-->' )349		&& ( ! $elements['multipage'] || 1 === $elements['page'] )350	) {351		$strip_teaser = true;352	}353 354	$teaser = $content[0];355 356	if ( $elements['more'] && $strip_teaser && $has_teaser ) {357		$teaser = '';358	}

Changelog

Introduced in 0.71. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 7.1.0.

1. 6.7.7
2. 6.8.8
3. 6.9.7
4. 7.0.4
5. 7.1.0

Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.

About this page

Parsed data

Generated from the wordpress-develop 6.7.7 tag, from src/wp-includes/post-template.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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