the_date( string $format = '', string $before = '', string $after = '', bool $display = true ): string|null
- Since
- 0.71
- Source
wp-includes/general-template.php:2891
Description
Will only output the date if the current post's date is different from the previous one output.
i.e. Only one date listing will show per day worth of posts shown in the loop, even if the function is called several times for each post.
HTML output can be filtered with 'the_date'.
Date string output can be filtered with 'get_the_date'.
Compatibility
- WordPress
- since 0.71
- PHP
- 7.4–8.6-dev
- 6.7.7
- 6.8.8
- 6.9.7
- 7.0.4
- 7.1.0
Present in every tracked release (6.7.7 to 7.1.0), and compiles on PHP 7.4 through 8.6-dev.
Parameters
$formatstringoptional- PHP date format. Defaults to the 'date_format' option.Default:
'' $beforestringoptional- Output before the date. Default empty.Default:
'' $afterstringoptional- Output after the date. Default empty.Default:
'' $displaybooloptional- Whether to echo the date or return it. Default true.Default:
true
Return value
string|null- String if retrieving.
Performance profile
How much work a call to the_date() 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
- Scaling
- Constant
- Instructions
- 20–28
- Plugin surface
- 1 hook
- Called by
- 0
Reaches the database via get_post().
No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.
Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 29.
Third-party callbacks on 'the_date' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.
Nothing in core calls this; the cost is only what you spend yourself.
What it touches
- hookthird-party callbacks
apply_filters()called directly - querycontent query
get_post()one call below the_date() - optionoption read or write
get_option()one call below the_date()
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 · 2 distinct outcomes
One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost the_date() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
!is_new_day() | 20–21 | is_new_day(), apply_filters() |
is_new_day() | 27–28 | is_new_day(), get_the_date(), apply_filters() |
Across PHP versions
Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 29 instructions, 20–28 executed per call, 2 branches. The work does not change between versions.
An instruction is not a fixed amount of time, so a matching count is not necessarily the same speed; what it rules out is a difference in the work itself.
Hooks and filters fired · 1
One hook fires while the_date() runs, in this order:
- apply_filters( the_date )filterline 2911 (+20 into the body)
Filters the date of the post, for display.
Uses · 3
- is_new_day()Determines whether the publish date of the current post in the loop is different from the publish date of the previous post in the loop.
- get_the_date()Retrieves the date of the post.
- apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
Source code
function the_date( $format = '', $before = '', $after = '', $display = true ) { global $currentday, $previousday; $the_date = ''; if ( is_new_day() ) { $the_date = $before . get_the_date( $format ) . $after; $previousday = $currentday; } /** * Filters the date of the post, for display. * * @since 0.71 * * @param string $the_date The formatted date string. * @param string $format PHP date format. * @param string $before HTML output before the date. * @param string $after HTML output after the date. */ $the_date = apply_filters( 'the_date', $the_date, $format, $before, $after ); if ( $display ) { echo $the_date; } else { return $the_date; }}Changelog
Introduced in 0.71. One change between 6.7.7 and 7.1.0.
Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.
string|void to string|null.verified against sourceAbout this page
- Parsed data
- Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.1.0 tag, from
src/wp-includes/general-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.