I am using global $post multiple times in a class. These are my doubts

1. Is that a bad practice?
2. Can it result in slow websites?

3. What's the proper way to use it inside a class

   class Test{
       public function(){
           global $post;
       }
   
       public function2(){
           global $post;
       }
   
       public function3(){
           global $post;
       }
   }
   

I am using global $post multiple times in a class. These are my doubts

1. Is that a bad practice?
2. Can it result in slow websites?

3. What's the proper way to use it inside a class

   class Test{
       public function(){
           global $post;
       }
   
       public function2(){
           global $post;
       }
   
       public function3(){
           global $post;
       }
   }
   

• plugin-development
• theme-development
• oop
• globals

Share Improve this question edited Aug 3, 2019 at 23:16 Pat J 12.5k22 gold badges2828 silver badges3636 bronze badges asked Aug 3, 2019 at 18:45 user145078user145078 3

• The issue I do see is that you're missing the function keyword: eg, public function() should be public function function_name(). – Pat J Commented Aug 3, 2019 at 23:18
• 1 @PatJ sorry that was a typo I just wanted to show to the structure – user145078 Commented Aug 3, 2019 at 23:24
• The correct answer depends entirely on how you're using it. The vast majority of the time there's better ways than using the global $post. Your question is not specific enough to answer though. – Jacob Peattie Commented Aug 4, 2019 at 6:04

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1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 1

There's nothing wrong with using the global $post variable per se, although there are people who will say that using global variables is always bad. But since you're using it multiple times in the same object, it would be better to just get the post once and store it in a class property.

I prefer using the WordPress get_post() function because it looks cleaner and get_post() does some stuff if the global $post variable isn't a WP_Post object. Using the global $post variable multiple times in a class will not slow down your site though, if that's your main worry.

So my class might look something like this:

class Test {
  protected $post;
  public function __construct() {
    $this->post = \get_post();
  }
  public function fizzbuzz() {
    //* Use $this->post instead of global $post
  }
  ... and etc. Mainly etc.
}

If you're looking to modify the global $post object, a better method would be to use the the_post action hook to access the $post object immediately after it is setup.

class Test {
  public function the_post( $post_object ) {
    //* Do something useful with the post object
  }
}
add_action( 'the_post', [ new Test(), 'the_post' ] );