What is the WP_Post Object?

WP_Post is an object that contains all of the information for a singular post in WordPress. The class, WP_Post is used to contain all post objects, which are stored in the database. Calling get_post() creates a WP_Post object that gets a post, and returns several pieces of information with that post.

What data is stored in WP_Post?

A lot of data is stored in a post, some of the obvious include author, type, title, date, content, excerpt, and status, all of which have the post_ prefix on them, giving information about the post. A post has an ID, which is returned using ID, easily enough. There are also pieces of information that can look into the comments of a post, such as comment_status, ping_status, and comment_count, all of which return information regarding if the post can be commented on, pinged by other blogs when mentioned, and keeps track of the amonut of comments. Lastly, the post can also have information based on settings of the post, such as post_password, post_parent, post_modified, and post_modified_gmt. These return a mix of a true/false if the post has a password on it, an ID if the post has a parent post, a timestamp of when the post was last modified, and a timestamp in the GMT timezone of when the post was last modified.

How Does WP_Post Play a Role on Page Load?

The role of the WP_Post object is to act as a reference point for all other pieces of information that are needed for a post. For example, when a post is loaded, PHP code can dynamically change the title of the page to match the post, create an excerpt based on the post's excerpt, display post content using the content of the post, and much more. With a unique WP_Post object, developers are able to dynamically show all information of a post, even when two posts have completely different content.

Summary

WP_Post is an object that returns information about a post created in WordPress. This post object contains a lot information, anywhere from simple stuff like the title and excerpt, even to stuff regarding if comments are allowed, to if the post has a parent post. Using the wide array of information provided by the post object, developers can then code their pages to change based on the information in that post object.