Retrieves post published or modified time as a DateTimeImmutable object instance.

The object will be set to the timezone from WordPress settings.

For legacy reasons, this function allows to choose to instantiate from local or UTC time in database.
Normally this should make no difference to the result. However, the values might get out of sync in database, typically because of timezone setting changes. The parameter ensures the ability to reproduce backwards compatible behaviors in such cases.

$post int|WP_Post Optional

Post ID or post object. Default is global $post object.

Default: null

$field string Optional

Published or modified time to use from database. Accepts 'date' or 'modified'.
Default 'date'.

Default: 'date'

$source string Optional

Local or UTC time to use from database. Accepts 'local' or 'gmt'.
Default 'local'.

Default: 'local'

DateTimeImmutable|false Time object on success, false on failure.

File: wp-includes/general-template.php. View all references

function get_post_datetime( $post = null, $field = 'date', $source = 'local' ) {
	$post = get_post( $post );

	if ( ! $post ) {
		return false;
	}

	$wp_timezone = wp_timezone();

	if ( 'gmt' === $source ) {
		$time     = ( 'modified' === $field ) ? $post->post_modified_gmt : $post->post_date_gmt;
		$timezone = new DateTimeZone( 'UTC' );
	} else {
		$time     = ( 'modified' === $field ) ? $post->post_modified : $post->post_date;
		$timezone = $wp_timezone;
	}

	if ( empty( $time ) || '0000-00-00 00:00:00' === $time ) {
		return false;
	}

	$datetime = date_create_immutable_from_format( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $time, $timezone );

	if ( false === $datetime ) {
		return false;
	}

	return $datetime->setTimezone( $wp_timezone );
}