wp_title( string $sep = '»', bool $display = true, string $seplocation = '' ): string|void

Displays or retrieves page title for all areas of blog.

Contents

Description

By default, the page title will display the separator before the page title, so that the blog title will be before the page title. This is not good for title display, since the blog title shows up on most tabs and not what is important, which is the page that the user is looking at.

There are also SEO benefits to having the blog title after or to the ‘right’ of the page title. However, it is mostly common sense to have the blog title to the right with most browsers supporting tabs. You can achieve this by using the seplocation parameter and setting the value to ‘right’. This change was introduced around 2.5.0, in case backward compatibility of themes is important.

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Parameters

$sep string Optional
How to separate the various items within the page title.
Default '»'.

Default: '»'

$display bool Optional
Whether to display or retrieve title.

Default: true

$seplocation string Optional
Location of the separator ('left' or 'right').

Default: ''

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Return

string|void String when $display is false, nothing otherwise.

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More Information

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Best practices

Plugins might use the wp_title filter to generate a value. While it is possible to construct a “title” by doing things such as concatenating with bloginfo (the Site Name), if you do not use the wp_title function in your theme, you will likely have errors or unexpected behavior.

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Return Values

The function returns a concatenated string. It always queries the database for a default string; the value of the default string depends on the type of post or page:

Single post
the title of the post
Date-based archive 
the date (e.g., “2006”, “2006 – January”)
Category
the name of the category
Author page 
the public name of the user

The function then prepends or appends the sep string and returns the entire value.

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Source

File: wp-includes/general-template.php. View all references 

function wp_title( $sep = '»', $display = true, $seplocation = '' ) {
	global $wp_locale;

	$m        = get_query_var( 'm' );
	$year     = get_query_var( 'year' );
	$monthnum = get_query_var( 'monthnum' );
	$day      = get_query_var( 'day' );
	$search   = get_query_var( 's' );
	$title    = '';

	$t_sep = '%WP_TITLE_SEP%'; // Temporary separator, for accurate flipping, if necessary.

	// If there is a post.
	if ( is_single() || ( is_home() && ! is_front_page() ) || ( is_page() && ! is_front_page() ) ) {
		$title = single_post_title( '', false );
	}

	// If there's a post type archive.
	if ( is_post_type_archive() ) {
		$post_type = get_query_var( 'post_type' );
		if ( is_array( $post_type ) ) {
			$post_type = reset( $post_type );
		}
		$post_type_object = get_post_type_object( $post_type );
		if ( ! $post_type_object->has_archive ) {
			$title = post_type_archive_title( '', false );
		}
	}

	// If there's a category or tag.
	if ( is_category() || is_tag() ) {
		$title = single_term_title( '', false );
	}

	// If there's a taxonomy.
	if ( is_tax() ) {
		$term = get_queried_object();
		if ( $term ) {
			$tax   = get_taxonomy( $term->taxonomy );
			$title = single_term_title( $tax->labels->name . $t_sep, false );
		}
	}

	// If there's an author.
	if ( is_author() && ! is_post_type_archive() ) {
		$author = get_queried_object();
		if ( $author ) {
			$title = $author->display_name;
		}
	}

	// Post type archives with has_archive should override terms.
	if ( is_post_type_archive() && $post_type_object->has_archive ) {
		$title = post_type_archive_title( '', false );
	}

	// If there's a month.
	if ( is_archive() && ! empty( $m ) ) {
		$my_year  = substr( $m, 0, 4 );
		$my_month = substr( $m, 4, 2 );
		$my_day   = (int) substr( $m, 6, 2 );
		$title    = $my_year .
			( $my_month ? $t_sep . $wp_locale->get_month( $my_month ) : '' ) .
			( $my_day ? $t_sep . $my_day : '' );
	}

	// If there's a year.
	if ( is_archive() && ! empty( $year ) ) {
		$title = $year;
		if ( ! empty( $monthnum ) ) {
			$title .= $t_sep . $wp_locale->get_month( $monthnum );
		}
		if ( ! empty( $day ) ) {
			$title .= $t_sep . zeroise( $day, 2 );
		}
	}

	// If it's a search.
	if ( is_search() ) {
		/* translators: 1: Separator, 2: Search query. */
		$title = sprintf( __( 'Search Results %1$s %2$s' ), $t_sep, strip_tags( $search ) );
	}

	// If it's a 404 page.
	if ( is_404() ) {
		$title = __( 'Page not found' );
	}

	$prefix = '';
	if ( ! empty( $title ) ) {
		$prefix = " $sep ";
	}

	/**
	 * Filters the parts of the page title.
	 *
	 * @since 4.0.0
	 *
	 * @param string[] $title_array Array of parts of the page title.
	 */
	$title_array = apply_filters( 'wp_title_parts', explode( $t_sep, $title ) );

	// Determines position of the separator and direction of the breadcrumb.
	if ( 'right' === $seplocation ) { // Separator on right, so reverse the order.
		$title_array = array_reverse( $title_array );
		$title       = implode( " $sep ", $title_array ) . $prefix;
	} else {
		$title = $prefix . implode( " $sep ", $title_array );
	}

	/**
	 * Filters the text of the page title.
	 *
	 * @since 2.0.0
	 *
	 * @param string $title       Page title.
	 * @param string $sep         Title separator.
	 * @param string $seplocation Location of the separator ('left' or 'right').
	 */
	$title = apply_filters( 'wp_title', $title, $sep, $seplocation );

	// Send it out.
	if ( $display ) {
		echo $title;
	} else {
		return $title;
	}
}

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Hooks

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Uses

Uses
Uses Description
is_category() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for an existing category archive page.
zeroise() wp-includes/formatting.php

Add leading zeros when necessary.
is_archive() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for an existing archive page.
get_queried_object() wp-includes/query.php

Retrieves the currently queried object.
is_post_type_archive() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for an existing post type archive page.
get_query_var() wp-includes/query.php

Retrieves the value of a query variable in the WP_Query class.
is_author() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for an existing author archive page.
is_tax() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for an existing custom taxonomy archive page.
is_tag() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for an existing tag archive page.
is_page() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for an existing single page.
is_front_page() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for the front page of the site.
is_home() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for the blog homepage.
is_404() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query has resulted in a 404 (returns no results).
is_search() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for a search.
is_single() wp-includes/query.php

Determines whether the query is for an existing single post.
single_term_title() wp-includes/general-template.php

Displays or retrieves page title for taxonomy term archive.
post_type_archive_title() wp-includes/general-template.php

Displays or retrieves title for a post type archive.
single_post_title() wp-includes/general-template.php

Displays or retrieves page title for post.
WP_Locale::get_month() wp-includes/class-wp-locale.php

Retrieves the full translated month by month number.
apply_filters() wp-includes/plugin.php

Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
__() wp-includes/l10n.php

Retrieves the translation of $text.
get_taxonomy() wp-includes/taxonomy.php

Retrieves the taxonomy object of $taxonomy.
get_post_type_object() wp-includes/post.php

Retrieves a post type object by name.
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Changelog

Changelog
Version Description
1.0.0 Introduced.

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User Contributed Notes

  1. Skip to note 1 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 21You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Fahid Javid —

    Following is the recommended way instead of wp_title() function.

    /*
 * Let WordPress manage the document title.
 * By adding theme support, we declare that this theme does not use a
 * hard-coded <title> tag in the document head, and expect WordPress to
 * provide it for us.
 */
add_theme_support( 'title-tag' );

    It should be placed in the functions.php file with after_setup_theme action hook.

  2. Skip to note 2 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 12You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Dave Clements —

    wp_title() was originally to be deprecated in 4.4, but was reinstated while efforts were made to identify the unintended ways in which the function was being used to ensure that the deprecation wouldn’t break them. With the likelihood that wp_title() will be deprecated in the near future, it is recommended that you instead use its replacement: the title-tag theme feature.

  3. Skip to note 3 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 5You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    Zero-character sep
    The sep string may be zero characters, which will remove » from the returned value. To do this, set the sep parameter to zero characters, for example:

    <title><?php wp_title(''); ?></title>

    If the title of the post is “Hello world!”, then the function will return:

    Hello world!

  4. Skip to note 4 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 3You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    Customizing with the filter
    If you want to change the way that the title displays on different pages you can use a filter.

    /**
 * Filters wp_title to print a neat <title> tag based on what is being viewed.
 *
 * @param string $title Default title text for current view.
 * @param string $sep   Optional separator.
 * @return string The filtered title.
 */
function wpdocs_theme_name_wp_title( $title, $sep ) {
	if ( is_feed() ) {
		return $title;
	}
	
	global $page, $paged;

	// Add the blog name
	$title .= get_bloginfo( 'name', 'display' );

	// Add the blog description for the home/front page.
	$site_description = get_bloginfo( 'description', 'display' );
	if ( $site_description && ( is_home() || is_front_page() ) ) {
		$title .= " $sep $site_description";
	}

	// Add a page number if necessary:
	if ( ( $paged >= 2 || $page >= 2 ) && ! is_404() ) {
		$title .= " $sep " . sprintf( __( 'Page %s', '_s' ), max( $paged, $page ) );
	}
	return $title;
}
add_filter( 'wp_title', 'wpdocs_theme_name_wp_title', 10, 2 );
  5. Skip to note 5 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 3You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    Covering Homepage
    If you are using a custom homepage with custom loops and stuff or a custom front-page, you will have an empty wp_title. Here goes a neat hack to add the description/tagline at the wp_title place on homepage:

    <title><?php wp_title(''); ?></title>

    Then in your functions.php file in your theme:

    add_filter( 'wp_title', 'wpdocs_hack_wp_title_for_home' );

/**
 * Customize the title for the home page, if one is not set.
 *
 * @param string $title The original title.
 * @return string The title to use.
 */
function wpdocs_hack_wp_title_for_home( $title )
{
  if ( empty( $title ) && ( is_home() || is_front_page() ) ) {
    $title = __( 'Home', 'textdomain' ) . ' | ' . get_bloginfo( 'description' );
  }
  return $title;
}

    You can format this string as you want of course.

  7. Skip to note 7 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 0You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by johnmichaelgrey —

    Just wanted to check line 833 for mis-spelling:

    $t_sep = ‘%WP_TITILE_SEP%’; // Temporary separator, for accurate flipping, if necessary

    Is WP_TITILE_SEP spelled correctly? I might have thought it to be WP_TITLE_SEP

    I noticed this in my WP php file, and then again here.

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