Title: get_the_archive_description
Published: December 18, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# get_the_archive_description(): string

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#hooks)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Retrieves the description for an author, post type, or term archive.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [term_description()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/term_description/)

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 string Archive description.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    function get_the_archive_description() {
    	if ( is_author() ) {
    		$description = get_the_author_meta( 'description' );
    	} elseif ( is_post_type_archive() ) {
    		$description = get_the_post_type_description();
    	} else {
    		$description = term_description();
    	}

    	/**
    	 * Filters the archive description.
    	 *
    	 * @since 4.1.0
    	 *
    	 * @param string $description Archive description to be displayed.
    	 */
    	return apply_filters( 'get_the_archive_description', $description );
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/general-template.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/general-template.php#L1840)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/general-template.php#L1840-L1857)

## 󠀁[Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#hooks)󠁿

 [apply_filters( ‘get_the_archive_description’, string $description )](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/get_the_archive_description/)

Filters the archive description.

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [get_the_post_type_description()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_post_type_description/)`wp-includes/general-template.php` |

Retrieves the description for a post type archive.

  | 
| [term_description()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/term_description/)`wp-includes/category-template.php` |

Retrieves term description.

  | 
| [is_author()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_author/)`wp-includes/query.php` |

Determines whether the query is for an existing author archive page.

  | 
| [is_post_type_archive()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_post_type_archive/)`wp-includes/query.php` |

Determines whether the query is for an existing post type archive page.

  | 
| [get_the_author_meta()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_author_meta/)`wp-includes/author-template.php` |

Retrieves the requested data of the author of the current post.

  | 
| [apply_filters()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/apply_filters/)`wp-includes/plugin.php` |

Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.

  |

[Show 1 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#)

| Used by | Description | 
| [the_archive_description()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/the_archive_description/)`wp-includes/general-template.php` |

Displays category, tag, term, or author description.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_archive_description/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [4.9.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.9.0/) | Added support for post type archives. | 
| [4.7.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.7.0/) | Added support for author archives. | 
| [4.1.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.1.0/) | Introduced. |

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