I genuinely don’t know. There have been 5 since I started the site. 2004. 2008. 2012. 2016. 2020.
And today is Leap Day and I already posted today.
Have I ever posted on Leap Day?
Let’s write a WordPress shortcode and find out!
add_shortcode('on_this_day',
/**
* Expect [on_this_day month="February" day="29"]
* Both month and day are required
* And return an ordered list of posts from that day grouped by year
* @param $atts
* @param $content
* @param $tag
*/ function ( $atts, $content, $tag ) {
$atts = shortcode_atts([
'month' => '',
'day' => '',
], $atts, $tag);
$month = $atts['month'];
$day = $atts['day'];
if (empty($month) || empty($day)) {
return;
}
// if month is non-numeric, convert it to a number
if (!is_numeric($month)) {
$month = date('m', strtotime($month));
}
// and the same with the day...
if (!is_numeric($day)) {
$day = date('d', strtotime($day));
}
$args = [
'post_type' => 'post',
'post_status' => 'publish',
'posts_per_page' => -1,
'date_query' => [
'month' => $month,
'day' => $day,
],
'orderby' => 'date',
'order' => 'ASC',
];
$posts = get_posts($args);
$posts_by_year = [];
foreach ($posts as $post) {
$year = get_the_date('Y', $post);
$posts_by_year[$year][] = $post;
}
$output = '';
foreach ($posts_by_year as $year => $year_posts) {
$output .= sprintf('<dt>%s</dt>', $year);
foreach ($year_posts as $post) {
$output .= sprintf('<dd><a href="%s">%s</a></dd>',
get_permalink($post->ID),
get_the_title($post)
);
}
}
return '<dl class="on-this-day" >' . $output . '</dl>';
});
I add that code to my theme. And now, when I add to a page or post with a shortcode that specifies a month and a day, like so…
[on_this_day month="February" day="29"]
…I get output like this:
- 2008
- Mr. Bird
- 2024
- Gravatar WordPress verification for self-hosted WordPress
- Have I ever posted on Leap Day?
So before today, I posted once on 29 February. In 2008. I’m surprised! That was fun.
Since it’s Leap Day it’s also Delete Your Drafts Day. I deleted 3 lingering drafts I will not miss. I turned 1 into a post which will publish tomorrow. So there are 4 drafts, which is good enough for me. I wrote about my odd schedule for checking on drafts last week if you care to read it.
Happy Leap Day!
Unrelated goofiness: ‘30 Rock’ Co-Creator Tells The Story Behind Leap Day Williams Watch the weirdness and check it out on Nestflix.
P.S. is there a WordPress shortcode you wish existed? What would it be?
