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Function Reference/wp schedule event

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Description

Schedules a hook which will be executed by the WordPress actions core on a specific interval, specified by you. The action will trigger when someone visits your WordPress site, if the scheduled time has passed. See the Plugin API for a list of hooks.

Usage

 <?php wp_schedule_event($timestamp, $recurrence, $hook, $args); ?> 

Parameters

$timestamp
(integer) (required) The first time that you want the event to occur. This must be in a UNIX timestamp format. WP cron uses UTC/GMT time, not local time. Use time(), which is always GMT in WordPress. (current_time( 'timestamp' ) is local time in WordPress.)
Default: None
$recurrence
(string) (required) How often the event should reoccur. Valid values are below. You can create custom intervals using the cron_schedules filter in wp_get_schedules().
  • hourly
  • twicedaily
  • daily
Default: None
$hook
(string) (required) The name of an action hook to execute.
Default: None
$args
(array) (optional) Arguments to pass to the hook function(s).
Default: None

Return Value

(boolean|null) 
False on failure, null when complete with scheduling event.

Examples

Schedule an hourly event

To schedule an hourly event in a plugin, call wp_schedule_event on activation (otherwise you will end up with a lot of scheduled events!): 

register_activation_hook(__FILE__, 'my_activation');
add_action('my_hourly_event', 'do_this_hourly');

function my_activation() {
	wp_schedule_event( time(), 'hourly', 'my_hourly_event');
}

function do_this_hourly() {
	// do something every hour
}

Don't forget to clean the scheduler on deactivation: 

register_deactivation_hook(__FILE__, 'my_deactivation');

function my_deactivation() {
	wp_clear_scheduled_hook('my_hourly_event');
}

A simple way to schedule an hourly event

This example doesn't rely on plugin activation (via the plugins directory) rather it simply adds the event if it is missing. 

add_action('my_hourly_event', 'do_this_hourly');

function my_activation() {
	if ( !wp_next_scheduled( 'my_hourly_event' ) ) {
		wp_schedule_event( time(), 'hourly', 'my_hourly_event');
	}
}
add_action('wp', 'my_activation');

function do_this_hourly() {
	// do something every hour
}

Notes

Change Log

Since: 2.1.0

Source File

wp_schedule_event() is located in wp-includes/cron.php

Related

Further Reading

For a comprehensive list of functions, take a look at the category Functions

Also, see Function_Reference

See also index of Function Reference and index of Template Tags.
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