get_the_modified_author( int|WP_Post|null $post = null ): string|null

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$postint|WP_Post|nulloptional

Post ID or post object. Default is global $post object.Default: null

Return value

string|null

The author's display name. Empty string if user is unavailable. Null if there was no last editor or the post is invalid.

Performance profile

How much work a call to get_the_modified_author() 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

7–27

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 30.

Plugin surface

1 hook

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

Called by

1

1 place 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

Further down the call graph this can also reach cache, serialize, option 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 · 3 distinct outcomes

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

Hooks and filters fired · 1

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

1. 1
   apply_filters( the_modified_author )filterline 113 (+19 into the body)

   Filters the display name of the author who last edited the current post.

Uses · 4

• get_post()Retrieves post data given a post ID or post object.
• get_post_meta()Retrieves a post meta field for the given post ID.
• get_userdata()Retrieves user info by user ID.
• apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.

Used by · 1

• the_modified_author()Displays the name of the author who last edited the current post, if the author's ID is available.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

94function get_the_modified_author( $post = null ) {95	$post = get_post( $post );96	if ( ! $post ) {97		return null;98	}99 100	$last_id = get_post_meta( $post->ID, '_edit_last', true );101	if ( ! $last_id ) {102		return null;103	}104	$last_user = get_userdata( $last_id );105 106	/**107	 * Filters the display name of the author who last edited the current post.108	 *109	 * @since 2.8.0110	 *111	 * @param string $display_name The author's display name, empty string if user is unavailable.112	 */113	return apply_filters( 'the_modified_author', $last_user ? $last_user->display_name : '' );114}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.8.0. 2 changes between 6.7.7 and 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 7.1.0 tag, from src/wp-includes/author-template.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

Something wrong on this page? Report it and it gets fixed in the next regeneration.