get_comment_text and comment_text do not return the same result.

[BackuPs]

Hi

I was working on some changes to the comment code and came across a weird issue. I looked at the wp core code but could not figure out why.

Suppose a comment is added like this

Hello World

This is a comment

With a new line of text

If i call get_comment_text i get a comment that has been stripped from all empty lines (p-tags) in the comment when the comment was posted not being a admin or editor.

i get this

Hello World This is a comment With a new line of text

However if i call the function comment_text this does not happen.

i get this

Hello World

This is a comment

With a new line of text

It tried some modified code in the default wp twenty seventeen theme and i get similar results.

if you change the comments.php in that theme to this

<?php
/**
 * The template for displaying comments
 *
 * This is the template that displays the area of the page that contains both the current comments
 * and the comment form.
 *
 * @link https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy
 *
 * @package WordPress
 * @subpackage Twenty_Seventeen
 * @since 1.0
 * @version 1.0
 */

/*
 * If the current post is protected by a password and
 * the visitor has not yet entered the password we will
 * return early without loading the comments.
 */
if ( post_password_required() ) {
        return;
}


function theme_comments($comment, $args, $depth) {
        $GLOBALS['comment'] = $comment; ?>
        <li <?php comment_class(); ?> id="li-comment-<?php comment_ID() ?>">
                <div id="comment-<?php comment_ID(); ?>" class="comment_wrap">
                        <div class="gravatar"><?php echo get_avatar($comment,$size='60',$default=''); ?></div>
                        <div class='comment_content'>
                                <div class="comment_meta">
                                        <?php printf( '<cite class="comment_author">%s</cite>', get_comment_author_link()) ?><?php edit_comment_link(__('(Edit)', 'theme_front' ),'  ','') ?>
                                        <time class="comment_time"><?php echo get_comment_date(); ?></time>
                                </div>
                                <div class='comment_text'>
                                                <?php echo get_comment_text();?>
<?php if ($comment->comment_approved == '0') : ?>
                                        <span class="unapproved"><?php _e('Your comment is awaiting moderation.','theme_front') ?></span>
<?php endif; ?>
                                </div>
                                <div class="reply">
                                        <?php comment_reply_link(array_merge( $args, array('depth' => $depth, 'max_depth' => $args['max_depth']))) ?>
                                </div>
                        </div>
                </div>
<?php
}
?>


<div id="comments" class="comments-area">

        <?php
        // You can start editing here -- including this comment!
        if ( have_comments() ) : ?>
                <h2 class="comments-title">
                        <?php
                        $comments_number = get_comments_number();
                        if ( '1' === $comments_number ) {
                                /* translators: %s: post title */
                                printf( _x( 'One Reply to &ldquo;%s&rdquo;', 'comments title', 'twentyseventeen' ), get_the_title() );
                        } else {
                                printf(
                                        /* translators: 1: number of comments, 2: post title */
                                        _nx(
                                                '%1$s Reply to &ldquo;%2$s&rdquo;',
                                                '%1$s Replies to &ldquo;%2$s&rdquo;',
                                                $comments_number,
                                                'comments title',
                                                'twentyseventeen'
                                        ),
                                        number_format_i18n( $comments_number ),
                                        get_the_title()
                                );
                        }
                        ?>
                </h2>

                <ol class="comment-list">
                <?php
                        wp_list_comments( array( 'callback' => 'theme_comments' ) );
                ?>
                </ol>

                <?php the_comments_pagination( array(
                        'prev_text' => twentyseventeen_get_svg( array( 'icon' => 'arrow-left' ) ) . '<span class="screen-reader-text">' . __( 'Previous', 'twentyseventeen' ) . '</span>',
                        'next_text' => '<span class="screen-reader-text">' . __( 'Next', 'twentyseventeen' ) . '</span>' . twentyseventeen_get_svg( array( 'icon' => 'arrow-right' ) ),
                ) );

        endif; // Check for have_comments().

        // If comments are closed and there are comments, let's leave a little note, shall we?
        if ( ! comments_open() && get_comments_number() && post_type_supports( get_post_type(), 'comments' ) ) : ?>

                <p class="no-comments"><?php _e( 'Comments are closed.', 'twentyseventeen' ); ?></p>
        <?php
        endif;

        comment_form();
        ?>

</div><!-- #comments -->

all line breaks (p-tags are gone in the returned comments

if however you use this which is only one line of code difference

<?php
/**
 * The template for displaying comments
 *
 * This is the template that displays the area of the page that contains both the current comments
 * and the comment form.
 *
 * @link https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy
 *
 * @package WordPress
 * @subpackage Twenty_Seventeen
 * @since 1.0
 * @version 1.0
 */

/*
 * If the current post is protected by a password and
 * the visitor has not yet entered the password we will
 * return early without loading the comments.
 */
if ( post_password_required() ) {
        return;
}


function theme_comments($comment, $args, $depth) {
        $GLOBALS['comment'] = $comment; ?>
        <li <?php comment_class(); ?> id="li-comment-<?php comment_ID() ?>">
                <div id="comment-<?php comment_ID(); ?>" class="comment_wrap">
                        <div class="gravatar"><?php echo get_avatar($comment,$size='60',$default=''); ?></div>
                        <div class='comment_content'>
                                <div class="comment_meta">
                                        <?php printf( '<cite class="comment_author">%s</cite>', get_comment_author_link()) ?><?php edit_comment_link(__('(Edit)', 'theme_front' ),'  ','') ?>
                                        <time class="comment_time"><?php echo get_comment_date(); ?></time>
                                </div>
                                <div class='comment_text'>
                                                <?php comment_text();?>
<?php if ($comment->comment_approved == '0') : ?>
                                        <span class="unapproved"><?php _e('Your comment is awaiting moderation.','theme_front') ?></span>
<?php endif; ?>
                                </div>
                                <div class="reply">
                                        <?php comment_reply_link(array_merge( $args, array('depth' => $depth, 'max_depth' => $args['max_depth']))) ?>
                                </div>
                        </div>
                </div>
<?php
}
?>


<div id="comments" class="comments-area">

        <?php
        // You can start editing here -- including this comment!
        if ( have_comments() ) : ?>
                <h2 class="comments-title">
                        <?php
                        $comments_number = get_comments_number();
                        if ( '1' === $comments_number ) {
                                /* translators: %s: post title */
                                printf( _x( 'One Reply to &ldquo;%s&rdquo;', 'comments title', 'twentyseventeen' ), get_the_title() );
                        } else {
                                printf(
                                        /* translators: 1: number of comments, 2: post title */
                                        _nx(
                                                '%1$s Reply to &ldquo;%2$s&rdquo;',
                                                '%1$s Replies to &ldquo;%2$s&rdquo;',
                                                $comments_number,
                                                'comments title',
                                                'twentyseventeen'
                                        ),
                                        number_format_i18n( $comments_number ),
                                        get_the_title()
                                );
                        }
                        ?>
                </h2>

                <ol class="comment-list">
                <?php
                        wp_list_comments( array( 'callback' => 'theme_comments' ) );
                ?>
                </ol>

                <?php the_comments_pagination( array(
                        'prev_text' => twentyseventeen_get_svg( array( 'icon' => 'arrow-left' ) ) . '<span class="screen-reader-text">' . __( 'Previous', 'twentyseventeen' ) . '</span>',
                        'next_text' => '<span class="screen-reader-text">' . __( 'Next', 'twentyseventeen' ) . '</span>' . twentyseventeen_get_svg( array( 'icon' => 'arrow-right' ) ),
                ) );

        endif; // Check for have_comments().

        // If comments are closed and there are comments, let's leave a little note, shall we?
        if ( ! comments_open() && get_comments_number() && post_type_supports( get_post_type(), 'comments' ) ) : ?>

                <p class="no-comments"><?php _e( 'Comments are closed.', 'twentyseventeen' ); ?></p>
        <?php
        endif;

        comment_form();
        ?>

</div><!-- #comments -->

This does not happen. But I cannot seem to find the difference in the class-walker-comment.php causing this.

Can anybody point me into the right direction?

thank you

[swissspidy]

That's because comment_text() displays the comment text instead of returning it and runs the comment_text filter beforehand. That's similar to get_the_content() vs the_content(). Not really a bug.

[BackuPs]

@swissspidy I dont understand what has running before hand of the filter comment_text todo with the fact the comment_text() returns

line 1

line 2

line 3

whereas get_comment_text() returns

line 1  line 2 line 3

The similar thing does not happen with the_content() and get_the_content()as they both return as far as i know

line 1

line 2

line 3

Can you explain more as both functions comment_text() and get_comment_text() call the filter and i still don't understand where the difference in result is coming from.

comment_text does the echo of the comment whereas using get_comment_text returns the string. But that string should be exactly the same without any difference in the text as comment_text. So why does get_comment_text strip all p-tags and comment_text does not?

[swissspidy]

Can you explain more as both functions comment_text() and get_comment_text() call the filter and i still don't understand where the difference in result is coming from.

That's not the case. get_comment_text() has the get_comment_text filter in it and comment_text() has the comment_text filter.

If you look at wp-includes/default-filters.php, you can see plenty of functions that are hooked to comment_text, but not get_ comment_text. These functions are for formatting and add the actual paragraphs etc.

comment_text does the echo of the comment whereas using get_comment_text returns the string. But that string should be exactly the same without any difference in the text as comment_text.

For historical reasons, those are not the same. get_comment_text() is good for modifying the text before processing it. You don't really want automatically generated HTML to be in there.

So why does get_comment_text strip all p-tags and comment_text does not?

It's the other way around. In comment_text(), the HTML is being added. If you want to have the same HTML in get_comment_text() as well, you can add the needed functions to the filter.

---

I'm closing this because it's not really a bug and for BC reasons it's not something we should change.

[BackuPs]

Hi

I am not saying its a bug....

If you want to have the same HTML in get_comment_text() as well, you can add the needed functions to the filter.

I am asking politely for help not for being send into the code again. Can you give me the solution on how todo this? Thank you

[swissspidy]

Sure.

Instead of adding the functions to the get_comment_text() filter you can also use something like this:

$comment_text_with_paragraphs_and_stuff = apply_filters( 'comment_text', get_comment_text( $my_comment_id ) );

Please note that discussion can continue to happen on closed tickets. However, for further questions like this I'd recommend heading to wordpress.org/support.