Index: src/wp-includes/author-template.php
===================================================================
--- src/wp-includes/author-template.php	(revision 34658)
+++ src/wp-includes/author-template.php	(working copy)
@@ -223,23 +223,17 @@
 }
 
 /**
- * Display an HTML link to the author page of the author of the current post.
+ * Get an HTML link to the author page of the author of the current post.
  *
- * Does just echo get_author_posts_url() function, like the others do. The
- * reason for this, is that another function is used to help in printing the
- * link to the author's posts.
+ * Returns an HTML-formatted link using get_author_posts_url().
  *
- * @link https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/the_author_posts_link
- * @since 1.2.0
+ * @since 4.4.0
  *
  * @global object $authordata The current author's DB object.
  *
- * @param string $deprecated Deprecated.
+ * @return string An HTML link to the author page.
  */
-function the_author_posts_link($deprecated = '') {
-	if ( !empty( $deprecated ) )
-		_deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '2.1' );
-
+function get_the_author_posts_link() {
 	global $authordata;
 	if ( ! is_object( $authordata ) ) {
 		return;
@@ -259,10 +253,27 @@
 	 *
 	 * @param string $link HTML link.
 	 */
-	echo apply_filters( 'the_author_posts_link', $link );
+	return apply_filters( 'the_author_posts_link', $link );
 }
 
 /**
+ * Display an HTML link to the author page of the author of the current post.
+ *
+ * Echoes get_author_posts_link() function.
+ *
+ * @link https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/the_author_posts_link
+ * @since 1.2.0
+ *
+ * @param string $deprecated Deprecated.
+ */
+function the_author_posts_link($deprecated = '') {
+	if ( ! empty( $deprecated ) ) {
+		_deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '2.1' );
+	}
+	echo get_the_author_posts_link();
+}
+
+/**
  * Retrieve the URL to the author page for the user with the ID provided.
  *
  * @since 2.1.0