get_posts($args) returns "auto-drafts" even when "post_status=>publish"

[jobst]

Frustrating bug this one is - had this for a while so not related to the current version.

Wordpress: 6.6.1
PHP: 8.2.21

When I use the following code

  $args = array( 'post_type'=>'post', 'post_status'=>'publish', 'numberposts'=>5 );
  error_log("ARGS -> \n".print_r($args,1),3,"/var/log/php");
  $posts = get_posts($args);
  foreach($posts as $k  => $v)
  {
    error_log("--------------------------------\n",3,"/var/log/php");
    error_log("PT ".$v->post_title."\n",3,"/var/log/php");
    error_log("PS ".$v->post_status."\n",3,"/var/log/php");
    error_log("PY ".$v->post_type."\n",3,"/var/log/php");
  }

It will print out

ARGS ->
Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [numberposts] => 5
)
--------------------------------
PT Auto Draft
PS auto-draft
PY post
--------------------------------
PT Stuck in the Valley of Indecision?
PS draft
PY post
--------------------------------
PT Game Over: How Fair Play Can Rebuild the Construction Industry
PS publish
PY post
--------------------------------
PT The Power of Reflection for Sales Success
PS publish
PY post
--------------------------------
PT Trend 5 - Process AND Agency
PS publish
PY post

basically completely ignoring my request for 5 published posts.

Wordpress' manual for get-posts (​https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_posts/) clearly states that the allowed passed parameter for "$args" can be found in WP_Query::parse_query (​https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Query/parse_query/) which "post_status" is one of them.

I consider this a bug as get_query does not listen to my request ONLY to hand over "published" posts.

[costdev]

Hi @jobst, thanks for opening this ticket!

I'm unable to reproduce this using your code on a test site.

Can you produce this on a clean install?

• If so, is there any additional information that you can provide that might help us to reproduce this?
• If not, is this only happening on one site?
  • If so, a plugin or the website's theme may be causing this.
  • If not, are there any plugins/themes that all the sites experience this use, which may be the culprit?