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Function Reference/the date

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Description

Displays or returns the date of a post, or a set of posts if published on the same day.

SPECIAL NOTE: When there are multiple posts on a page published under the SAME DAY, the_date() only displays the date for the first post (that is, the first instance of the_date()). To repeat the date for posts published under the same day, you should use the Template Tag the_time() or get_the_date() (since 3.0) with a date-specific format string.
Use <?php the_time(get_option('date_format')); ?> to add the date set in the admin interface.

This tag must be used within The Loop.

Usage

<?php the_date( $format, $before, $after, $echo ); ?>

Parameters

$format

(string) (optional) The format for the date. Defaults to the date format configured in your WordPress options. See Formatting Date and Time.

Default: F j, Y)

$before

(string) (optional) Text to place before the date.

Default: None

$after

(string) (optional) Text to place after the date

Default: None

$echo

(boolean) (optional) Display the date (TRUE), or return the date to be used in PHP (FALSE).

Default: TRUE

Examples

Default Usage

Displays the date using defaults.

<p>Date posted: <?php the_date(); ?></p>

Date as Year, Month, Date in Heading

Displays the date using the '2007-07-23' format (ex: 2004-11-30), inside an <h2> tag.

<?php the_date('Y-m-d', '<h2>', '</h2>'); ?>

Date in Heading Using $my_date Variable

Returns the date in the default format inside an <h2> tag and assigns it to the $my_date variable. The variable's value is then displayed with the PHP echo command.

<?php $my_date = the_date('', '<h2>', '</h2>', FALSE); echo $my_date; ?>

Notes

Affects the return value of the is_new_day() function.

Change Log

Since: 0.71

Source File

the_date() is located in wp-includes/general-template.php.