Add function to get the excerpt outside the loop

[Atoon]

There's currently a function called get_the_excerpt, yet it don't work as the other similar ones as it don't support any arguments. I would like to have a core function that works like the_excerpt, but outside the loop by specifying an ID.

[husobj]

I notice get_the_excerpt() current accepts 1 parameter which is $deprecated since 2.3

It looks like it used to be get_the_excerpt( $fakeit = true ) https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/1.5/wp-includes/template-functions-post.php#L110 back as far as 1.5 but $fakeit it doesn't seem to be used anywhere so I presume we'd be OK to pass a post ID now like get_the_title()?

I'm happy to write a patch for this.

[DrewAPicture]

Replying to husobj:

I notice get_the_excerpt() current accepts 1 parameter which is $deprecated since 2.3

It looks like it used to be get_the_excerpt( $fakeit = true ) https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/1.5/wp-includes/template-functions-post.php#L110 back as far as 1.5 but $fakeit it doesn't seem to be used anywhere so I presume we'd be OK to pass a post ID now like get_the_title()?

We'd still need to pass the $deprecated argument, which definitely makes adding additional parameters a little clunky since you'd effectively call it as get_the_excerpt( '', $post_id );

[husobj]

I was trying to get to the bottom of what the old $fakeit was.

It looks like it used to expect a boolean true/false value as to wether to 'fake' the excerpt content but can't confirm that this was ever implemented - see #4439. The parameter is there but not implemented as far back as WP 1.5 (I haven't tried to research back further)

If it could be confirmed that it used to expect a boolean, could we then check for a numeric value for that first parameter and then only handle that as a Post ID if that's the case?

It would be nice to bring it inline with other functions like get_the_title()

[SergeyBiryukov]

$fakeit was originally introduced in [87], unused since [2341].

I think it's safe to undeprecate it and treat it as a post ID if a numeric value or a post object is passed.

That still doesn't make it consistent with get_the_content() though...

[husobj]

Replying to SergeyBiryukov:

That still doesn't make it consistent with get_the_content() though...

True, hmm

[diddledani]

Repurpose deprecated argument to optionally indicate a post other than, the current from "The Loop", to excerpt

[diddledani]

Patch uploaded, but we still need unit tests.

[swissspidy]

27246.2.diff​ is an updated patch that also adds some unit tests for get_the_excerpt().

[swissspidy]

I think it's safe to undeprecate it and treat it as a post ID if a numeric value or a post object is passed.

27246.2.diff​ implements this and I think is safe to add. The original param was deprecated a long time ago and I often ran into this "bug" before.

[swissspidy]

27246.3.diff​ adds a new test for the deprecated notice.

[swissspidy]

In 36319:

Posts: Add a $post parameter to get_the_excerpt().

This allows getting the excerpt for a specific post, similar to how most other template tags work.
A deprecation notice is thrown if a boolean value is passed, which is deprecated since 2.3 and has not been used for a long time.
Adds unit tests.

Fixes #27246.

[swissspidy]

In 36320:

Add tests missed and announced in [36319].

See #27246.

[markoheijnen]

With similar ones I compare it with the_content and that one also not have it. I rather would revert it since they are more like theme functions which are generally used in a loop.

Isn't it an option to put functions like this in WP_Post? and change the theme functions to call the methods in WP_Post. As a plugin developer I would love to use WP_Post more and doing something like this would be a good step.

[swissspidy]

With similar template tags I meant get_permalink(), get_the_title() and basically any get_ function. They all allow passing a $post while their the_ equivalents display the values for the current post. In theme templates, the_excerpt() is usually used, whereas get_the_excerpt( $post ) can also be used by plugins — without manually needing to apply filters.

Isn't it an option to put functions like this in WP_Post? and change the theme functions to call the methods in WP_Post. As a plugin developer I would love to use WP_Post more and doing something like this would be a good step.

Oh, I think it is. I haven't found an existing ticket for that, but I've seen plenty of code examples of custom Post decorator classes implementing something similar.

[markoheijnen]

That's a good point. I also made myself guilty with copy/pasting the code of get_the_excerpt()/the_excerpt. So it is a good thing to have. I'm just thinking how the future would look like. Would be great to have a roadmap for WP_Post and related classes.

[swissspidy]

Replying to markoheijnen:

That's a good point. I also made myself guilty with copy/pasting the code of get_the_excerpt()/the_excerpt. So it is a good thing to have. I'm just thinking how the future would look like. Would be great to have a roadmap for WP_Post and related classes.

For the record, I just found #12267 about this. It was recently closed as maybelater, but if there's interest in it.. Why not?