WordPress Feed Functions

Last updated: February 12, 2026

Feed Consumption

fetch_feed()

Builds a SimplePie object from an RSS or Atom feed URL.

function fetch_feed( string|array $url ): SimplePieSimplePie|WP_Error

Parameters:

  • $url – URL of feed to retrieve, or array of URLs for merged multifeed

Returns: SimplePieSimplePie on success, WP_Error on failure

Example:

$feed = fetch_feed( 'https://example.com/feed/' );

if ( is_wp_error( $feed ) ) {
    echo 'Error: ' . $feed->get_error_message();
    return;
}

$items = $feed->get_items( 0, 5 ); // Get first 5 items

foreach ( $items as $item ) {
    echo $item->get_title() . "n";
    echo $item->get_permalink() . "n";
    echo $item->get_date( 'Y-m-d' ) . "n";
}

Multifeed Example:

$feeds = fetch_feed( array(
    'https://example.com/feed/',
    'https://another.com/rss/',
) );

// Items from both feeds are merged and sorted by date
$items = $feeds->get_items();

Notes:

  • Caches for 12 hours by default (filterable via wp_feed_cache_transient_lifetime)
  • Uses WordPress HTTP API for requests
  • Content sanitized via KSES

Blog Information (Feed Context)

get_bloginfo_rss()

Retrieves blog information with feed-safe encoding.

function get_bloginfo_rss( string $show = '' ): string

Parameters:

  • $show – Same values as get_bloginfo() (name, description, url, etc.)

Returns: Stripped and character-converted blog info

Example:

$site_name = get_bloginfo_rss( 'name' );
$site_url  = get_bloginfo_rss( 'url' );

bloginfo_rss()

Displays blog information for feeds.

function bloginfo_rss( string $show = '' ): void

Feed Configuration

get_default_feed()

Returns the default feed type.

function get_default_feed(): string

Returns: Default feed type (default: 'rss2')

Example:

$default = get_default_feed(); // 'rss2'

feed_content_type()

Returns the appropriate Content-Type header for a feed type.

function feed_content_type( string $type = '' ): string

Parameters:

  • $type – Feed type: 'rss', 'rss2', 'atom', 'rdf'

Returns: MIME type string

Type Content-Type
rss application/rss+xml
rss2 application/rss+xml
atom application/atom+xml
rdf application/rdf+xml
rss-http text/xml

Title Functions

get_wp_title_rss()

Retrieves the blog title for the feed title element.

function get_wp_title_rss( string $deprecated = '–' ): string

Returns: Document title via wp_get_document_title()

wp_title_rss()

Displays the blog title for feeds.

function wp_title_rss( string $deprecated = '–' ): void

get_the_title_rss()

Retrieves the current post title for feeds.

function get_the_title_rss( int|WP_Post $post = 0 ): string

Parameters:

  • $post – Post ID or object (default: global $post)

Returns: Filtered post title

the_title_rss()

Displays the post title in the feed.

function the_title_rss(): void

Content Functions

get_the_content_feed()

Retrieves post content formatted for feeds.

function get_the_content_feed( string $feed_type = null ): string

Parameters:

  • $feed_type – Feed type: 'rss2', 'atom', 'rss', 'rdf'

Returns: Content with the_content filter applied, ]]> escaped

the_content_feed()

Displays post content for feeds.

function the_content_feed( string $feed_type = null ): void

the_excerpt_rss()

Displays the post excerpt for feeds.

function the_excerpt_rss(): void

Link Functions

the_permalink_rss()

Displays the permalink for use in feeds.

function the_permalink_rss(): void

comments_link_feed()

Outputs the comments link in an XML-safe way.

function comments_link_feed(): void

get_self_link()

Returns the current feed’s self-reference URL.

function get_self_link(): string

Returns: Full URL for atom:self element

self_link()

Displays the current feed URL (escaped).

function self_link(): void

Category Functions

get_the_category_rss()

Retrieves all post categories and tags formatted for feeds.

function get_the_category_rss( string $type = null ): string

Parameters:

  • $type – Feed type: 'rss2', 'atom', 'rdf'

Returns: Formatted category/tag XML

Output by Type:

RSS 2.0:

<category><![CDATA[Category Name]]></category>

Atom:

<category scheme="https://example.com" term="Category Name" />

RDF:

<dc:subject><![CDATA[Category Name]]></dc:subject>

the_category_rss()

Displays post categories in the feed.

function the_category_rss( string $type = null ): void

Comment Functions

get_comment_author_rss()

Retrieves the comment author for feeds.

function get_comment_author_rss(): string

comment_author_rss()

Displays the comment author in feeds.

function comment_author_rss(): void

comment_text_rss()

Displays the comment content for feeds.

function comment_text_rss(): void

comment_guid()

Displays the feed GUID for the current comment.

function comment_guid( int|WP_Comment $comment_id = null ): void

get_comment_guid()

Retrieves the feed GUID for a comment.

function get_comment_guid( int|WP_Comment $comment_id = null ): string|false

Returns: GUID in format {post_guid}#comment-{comment_id}, or false on failure

comment_link()

Displays the comment permalink.

function comment_link( int|WP_Comment $comment = null ): void

Enclosure Functions

rss_enclosure()

Displays RSS 2.0 enclosure elements for the current post.

function rss_enclosure(): void

Output:

<enclosure url="..." length="..." type="audio/mpeg" />

Notes:

  • Reads from enclosure post meta
  • Skipped for password-protected posts

atom_enclosure()

Displays Atom enclosure elements for the current post.

function atom_enclosure(): void

Output:

<link href="..." rel="enclosure" length="..." type="audio/mpeg" />

Site Icon Functions

rss2_site_icon()

Displays the site icon in RSS 2.0 feeds.

function rss2_site_icon(): void

Output:

<image>
    <url>https://example.com/icon.png</url>
    <title>Site Name</title>
    <link>https://example.com</link>
    <width>32</width>
    <height>32</height>
</image>

atom_site_icon()

Displays the site icon in Atom feeds.

function atom_site_icon(): void

Output:

<icon>https://example.com/icon.png</icon>

Date Functions

get_feed_build_date()

Returns the UTC time of the most recently modified post in WP_Query.

function get_feed_build_date( string $format ): string|false

Parameters:

  • $format – PHP date format string

Returns: Formatted date or false on failure

Example:

// RFC 2822 (for RSS)
echo get_feed_build_date( 'r' );
// Output: Mon, 09 Feb 2026 05:48:00 +0000

// ISO 8601 (for Atom)
echo get_feed_build_date( 'Y-m-dTH:i:sZ' );
// Output: 2026-02-09T05:48:00Z

Utility Functions

html_type_rss()

Displays ‘xhtml’ or ‘html’ based on blog settings.

function html_type_rss(): void

prep_atom_text_construct()

Determines text type and formats data for Atom feeds (RFC 4287 Section 3.1).

function prep_atom_text_construct( string $data ): array

Returns: array( $type, $value ) where type is 'text', 'html', or 'xhtml'

Example:

list( $type, $value ) = prep_atom_text_construct( $content );
echo "<content type="$type">$value</content>";

Cache Classes

WP_Feed_Cache_Transient

Implements feed caching using WordPress transients.

class WP_Feed_Cache_Transient implements SimplePieCacheBase {
    public string $name;          // Transient name: feed_{hash}
    public string $mod_name;      // Mod time name: feed_mod_{hash}
    public int    $lifetime = 43200; // 12 hours
    
    public function save( $data ): bool;   // Store feed data
    public function load(): array;         // Retrieve cached data
    public function mtime(): int;          // Get modification timestamp
    public function touch(): bool;         // Update modification time
    public function unlink(): bool;        // Delete cache
}

WP_SimplePie_File

Fetches remote feeds using WordPress HTTP API.

class WP_SimplePie_File extends SimplePieFile {
    public int $timeout = 10;  // Connection timeout in seconds
    
    public function __construct(
        string $url,
        int $timeout = 10,
        int $redirects = 5,
        string|array $headers = null,
        string $useragent = null,
        bool $force_fsockopen = false
    );
}

WP_SimplePie_Sanitize_KSES

Sanitizes feed content using WordPress KSES.

class WP_SimplePie_Sanitize_KSES extends SimplePieSanitize {
    public function sanitize( 
        mixed $data, 
        int $type, 
        string $base = '' 
    ): mixed;
}

More in Feeds

All WordPress Core Docs View all Feeds