wp_next_scheduled( string $hook, array $args = array() ): int|false

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$hookstring

Action hook of the event.

$argsarrayoptional

Array containing each separate argument to pass to the hook's callback function.
Although not passed to a callback, these arguments are used to uniquely identify the event, so they should be the same as those used when originally scheduling the event.
Default empty array.Default: array()

Return value

int|false

The Unix timestamp of the next time the event will occur. False if the event doesn't exist.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_next_scheduled() 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

Trivial

Touches nothing outside its own arguments.

Scaling

Constant

No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.

Instructions

9–10

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 11.

Plugin surface

None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by

13

13 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.

What it touches

• hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()one call below wp_next_scheduled()

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

Uses · 1

• wp_get_scheduled_event()Retrieves a scheduled event.

Used by · 13

• WP_Recovery_Mode::initialize()Initialize recovery mode for the current request.
• WP_Site_Health::maybe_create_scheduled_event()Creates a weekly cron event, if one does not already exist.
• WP_Upgrader::schedule_temp_backup_cleanup()Schedules the cleanup of the temporary backup directory.
• _publish_post_hook()Hook to schedule pings and enclosures when a post is published.
• _wp_check_for_scheduled_split_terms()In order to avoid the _wp_batch_split_terms() job being accidentally removed, checks that it's still scheduled while we haven't finished splitting terms.
• _wp_check_for_scheduled_update_comment_type()In order to avoid the _wp_batch_update_comment_type() job being accidentally removed, check that it's still scheduled while we haven't finished updating comment types.
• get_default_post_to_edit()Returns default post information to use when populating the "Write Post" form.
• wp_get_auto_update_message()Determines the appropriate auto-update message to be displayed.
• wp_schedule_delete_old_privacy_export_files()Schedules a `WP_Cron` job to delete expired export files.
• wp_schedule_update_checks()Schedules core, theme, and plugin update checks.
• wp_schedule_update_network_counts()Schedules update of the network-wide counts for the current network.
• wp_schedule_update_user_counts()Schedules a recurring recalculation of the total count of users.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

832function wp_next_scheduled( $hook, $args = array() ) {833	$next_event = wp_get_scheduled_event( $hook, $args );834 835	if ( ! $next_event ) {836		return false;837	}838 839	return $next_event->timestamp;840}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.1.0. 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/cron.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

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