wppaste
WordPress

the_time( string $format = '' )

Since
0.71
Source
wp-includes/general-template.php:3032
Displays the time of the post.

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
Format to use for retrieving the time the post was written. Accepts 'G', 'U', or PHP date format.
Defaults to the 'time_format' option.Default: ''

Performance profile

How much work a call to the_time() 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
11

Executed per call on PHP 8.5. The body compiles to 11.

Plugin surface
1 hook

Third-party callbacks on 'the_time' 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

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

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 · 1 distinct outcome

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

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
always11get_the_time(), 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: 11 instructions, 11 executed per call, 0 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_time() runs, in this order:

  1. apply_filters( the_time )filterline 3042 (+10 into the body)

    Filters the time of the post, for display.

Uses · 2

Used by · 1

Source code

View on Trac View on GitHub 

function the_time( $format = '' ) {	/**	 * Filters the time of the post, for display.	 *	 * @since 0.71	 *	 * @param string $get_the_time The formatted time.	 * @param string $format       Format to use for retrieving the time the post	 *                             was written. Accepts 'G', 'U', or PHP date format.	 */	echo apply_filters( 'the_time', get_the_time( $format ), $format );}

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 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.