the_title_attribute( string|array $args = '' ): void|string

Description

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$argsstring|arrayoptional

Title attribute arguments. Optional.Default: ''

• $beforestringdefault: empty

  Markup to prepend to the title.

• $afterstringdefault: empty

  Markup to append to the title.

• $echobooldefault: true for echo

  Whether to echo or return the title.

• $postWP_Post

  Current post object to retrieve the title for.

Return value

void|string

Void if 'echo' argument is true, the title attribute if 'echo' is false.

Performance profile

How much work a call to the_title_attribute() 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

23–38

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 40.

Plugin surface

None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by

7

7 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()one call below the_title_attribute()

Further down the call graph this can also reach option, 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_title_attribute() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

Uses · 4

• get_post()Retrieves post data given a post ID or post object.
• wp_parse_args()Merges user defined arguments into defaults array.
• get_the_title()Retrieves the post title.
• esc_attr()Escaping for HTML attributes.

Used by · 7

• feed_links_extra()Displays the links to the extra feeds such as category feeds.
• get_adjacent_post_rel_link()Retrieves the adjacent post relational link.
• get_the_content()Retrieves the post content.
• twentysixteen_post_thumbnail()Displays an optional post thumbnail.
• twentyten_posted_in()Print HTML with meta information for the current post (category, tags and permalink).
• twentythirteen_entry_date()Print HTML with date information for current post.
• twentythirteen_the_attached_image()Print the attached image with a link to the next attached image.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

81function the_title_attribute( $args = '' ) {82	$defaults    = array(83		'before' => '',84		'after'  => '',85		'echo'   => true,86		'post'   => get_post(),87	);88	$parsed_args = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );89 90	$title = get_the_title( $parsed_args['post'] );91 92	if ( strlen( $title ) === 0 ) {93		return;94	}95 96	$title = $parsed_args['before'] . $title . $parsed_args['after'];97	$title = esc_attr( strip_tags( $title ) );98 99	if ( $parsed_args['echo'] ) {100		echo $title;101	} else {102		return $title;103	}104}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.3.0. 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 6.8.8 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.

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