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

$argsstring|arrayoptional

Default archive links arguments. Optional.Default: ''

• $typestringdefault: 'monthly'

  Type of archive to retrieve. Accepts 'daily', 'weekly', 'monthly', 'yearly', 'postbypost', or 'alpha'. Both 'postbypost' and 'alpha' display the same archive link list as well as post titles instead of displaying dates. The difference between the two is that 'alpha' will order by post title and 'postbypost' will order by post date.

• $limitstring|intdefault: empty (no limit)

  Number of links to limit the query to.

• $formatstringdefault: 'html'

  Format each link should take using the $before and $after args. Accepts 'link' (<link> tag), 'option' (<option> tag), 'html' (<li> tag), or a custom format, which generates a link anchor with $before preceding and $after succeeding.

• $beforestringdefault: empty

  Markup to prepend to the beginning of each link.

• $afterstringdefault: empty

  Markup to append to the end of each link.

• $show_post_countbooldefault: false

  Whether to display the post count alongside the link.

• $echobool|intdefault: 1|true to echo

  Whether to echo or return the links list.

• $orderstringdefault: 'DESC'

  Whether to use ascending or descending order. Accepts 'ASC', or 'DESC'.

• $post_typestringdefault: 'post'

  Post type.

• $yearstringdefault: current year

  Year.

• $monthnumstringdefault: current month number

  Month number.

• $daystringdefault: current day

  Day.

• $wstringdefault: current week

  Week.

Return value

void|string

Void if 'echo' argument is true, archive links if 'echo' is false.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_get_archives() 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_results().

Scaling

Scales with input

The body loops, so the work grows with what you pass in.

Instructions

105–164

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 699.

Plugin surface

3 hooks

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

Called by

3

3 places 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
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_get_last_changed()called directly
• optionoption read or writeget_option()called directly
• sqldatabase query->get_results()called directly
• serializeserialisationmaybe_unserialize()one call below wp_get_archives()
• querycontent queryget_post()one call below wp_get_archives()

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

What one call costs · 10 distinct outcomes

One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost wp_get_archives() 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 · 3

3 hooks fire while wp_get_archives() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   apply_filters( getarchives_where )filterline 2051 (+55 into the body)

   Filters the SQL WHERE clause for retrieving archives.

2. 2
   apply_filters( getarchives_join )filterline 2061 (+65 into the body)

   Filters the SQL JOIN clause for retrieving archives.

3. 3
   apply_filters( the_title )filterline 2198 (+202 into the body)

   Filters the post title.

Uses · 24

• get_query_var()Retrieves the value of a query variable in the WP_Query class.
• wp_parse_args()Merges user defined arguments into defaults array.
• get_post_type_object()Retrieves a post type object by name.
• is_post_type_viewable()Determines whether a post type is considered "viewable".
• absint()Converts a value to non-negative integer.
• apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
• wp_cache_get_last_changed()Gets last changed date for the specified cache group.
• wp_cache_get()Retrieves the cache contents from the cache by key and group.
• wp_cache_set()Saves the data to the cache.
• get_month_link()Retrieves the permalink for the month archives with year.
• add_query_arg()Retrieves a modified URL query string.
• __()Retrieves the translation of $text.

Used by · 3

• WP_Widget_Archives::widget()Outputs the content for the current Archives widget instance.
• get_archives()Retrieves a list of archives.
• render_block_core_archives()Renders the `core/archives` block on server.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

1996function wp_get_archives( $args = '' ) {1997	global $wpdb, $wp_locale;1998 1999	$defaults = array(2000		'type'            => 'monthly',2001		'limit'           => '',2002		'format'          => 'html',2003		'before'          => '',2004		'after'           => '',2005		'show_post_count' => false,2006		'echo'            => 1,2007		'order'           => 'DESC',2008		'post_type'       => 'post',2009		'year'            => get_query_var( 'year' ),2010		'monthnum'        => get_query_var( 'monthnum' ),2011		'day'             => get_query_var( 'day' ),2012		'w'               => get_query_var( 'w' ),2013	);2014 2015	$parsed_args = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );2016 2017	$post_type_object = get_post_type_object( $parsed_args['post_type'] );2018	if ( ! is_post_type_viewable( $post_type_object ) ) {2019		return;2020	}2021 2022	$parsed_args['post_type'] = $post_type_object->name;2023 2024	if ( '' === $parsed_args['type'] ) {2025		$parsed_args['type'] = 'monthly';2026	}2027 2028	if ( ! empty( $parsed_args['limit'] ) ) {2029		$parsed_args['limit'] = absint( $parsed_args['limit'] );2030		$parsed_args['limit'] = ' LIMIT ' . $parsed_args['limit'];2031	}2032 2033	$order = strtoupper( $parsed_args['order'] );2034	if ( 'ASC' !== $order ) {2035		$order = 'DESC';2036	}2037 2038	// This is what will separate dates on weekly archive links.2039	$archive_week_separator = '–';2040 2041	$sql_where = $wpdb->prepare( "WHERE post_type = %s AND post_status = 'publish'", $parsed_args['post_type'] );2042 2043	/**2044	 * Filters the SQL WHERE clause for retrieving archives.2045	 *2046	 * @since 2.2.02047	 *2048	 * @param string $sql_where   Portion of SQL query containing the WHERE clause.2049	 * @param array  $parsed_args An array of default arguments.2050	 */2051	$where = apply_filters( 'getarchives_where', $sql_where, $parsed_args );2052 2053	/**2054	 * Filters the SQL JOIN clause for retrieving archives.2055	 *2056	 * @since 2.2.02057	 *2058	 * @param string $sql_join    Portion of SQL query containing JOIN clause.2059	 * @param array  $parsed_args An array of default arguments.2060	 */2061	$join = apply_filters( 'getarchives_join', '', $parsed_args );2062 2063	$output = '';2064 2065	$last_changed = wp_cache_get_last_changed( 'posts' );2066 2067	$limit = $parsed_args['limit'];2068 2069	if ( 'monthly' === $parsed_args['type'] ) {2070		$query   = "SELECT YEAR(post_date) AS `year`, MONTH(post_date) AS `month`, count(ID) as posts FROM $wpdb->posts $join $where GROUP BY YEAR(post_date), MONTH(post_date) ORDER BY post_date $order $limit";2071		$key     = md5( $query );2072		$key     = "wp_get_archives:$key:$last_changed";2073		$results = wp_cache_get( $key, 'post-queries' );2074		if ( ! $results ) {2075			$results = $wpdb->get_results( $query );

Changelog

Introduced in 1.2.0. 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 6.7.7 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.

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