The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

Steve_The_Cynic · 2026-06-02 Reply Edit Admin

PHP has an alternate syntax for blocks

No, it doesn't. It has an alternative syntax for blocks. See e.g. https://www.php.net/manual/en/control-structures.alternative-syntax.php

It's quite clearly an alternative syntax, both in the URL and the actual page of docs.

Hmm. Apparently, the use of "alternate" to mean "alternative" is a strong Americanism. I suppose I could be persuaded to forgive you... ;)

2026-06-02 Reply Admin

Looks like the colon syntax is meant for when you mix your PHP with HTML, just to make it easier to read.

<?php if ($condition): ?>
    <p>Content shown if true</p>
<?php elseif ($other_condition): ?>
    <p>Content shown if other is true</p>
<?php else: ?>
    <p>Content shown otherwise</p>
<?php endif; ?>

Also note that you have to use elseif instead of else if when using colon syntax.

2026-06-02 Reply Admin

meaning we get four months of January, which just seems cruel, honestly, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.

We're getting them in place of October-December, so it's not like we're missing summer or anything. Honestly just skipping the slow descent through autumn and getting straight into the thick of winter might not be a bad thing. Only downside I see is Christmas... no, not skipping it: Russian Christmas is in January, so this way you have to go through that rigmarole four times in a row! (NB I have not checked whether those months are actually Russian or another language with the Cyrillic alphabet.)

2026-06-02 Reply Admin

Method get_the_date() is not a Core PHP Method. It is from "WordPress Developers Resources" (url: ...//developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_date/).

Admittedly WordPress is a PHP Application but, despite the pervasive meme that "PHP is bad", it is not PHP's fault. For your convenience (and it should have been referenced in the Article to give the Judgement some credence), The Method is:

function get_the_date( $format = '', $post = null ) { $post = get_post( $post );

if ( ! $post ) {
	return false;
}

$_format = ! empty( $format ) ? $format : get_option( 'date_format' );

$the_date = get_post_time( $_format, false, $post, true );

/**
 * Filters the date of the post.
 *
 * @since 3.0.0
 *
 * @param string|int $the_date Formatted date string or Unix timestamp if `$format` is 'U' or 'G'.
 * @param string     $format   PHP date format.
 * @param WP_Post    $post     The post object.
 */
return apply_filters( 'get_the_date', $the_date, $format, $post );

}

The "warthog" in me could not find the will to explore further. I.e. track down the other "methods" invoked.

2026-06-02 Reply Admin

They effectively do look like Russian but in feminine form. Don't know if it's another WTF or a country dependent thing though 🤔

2026-06-02

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2026-06-02

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Ross_Presser · 2026-06-02 Reply Edit Admin

We're getting them in place of October-December, so it's not like we're missing summer or anything. Honestly just skipping the slow descent through autumn and getting straight into the thick of winter might not be a bad thing.

Heretic. Blasphemer. Autumn is infinitely superior to all other seasons. None of the other seasons have Halloween, for example. Or Thanksgiving. Okay, I'm clearly American, so you've tuned out already. Bye.

Ralf · 2026-06-02 Reply Edit Admin

They are in the genitive case, which is proper when used within a date. However in that case, they should not be capitalized, which the array values seemed to be. So still one more oddity.

Anyway, the entire thing looks like new code that the next intern will get to debug next Winter.

Also, if you google 'php convert date', it only takes a few seconds to find at least one example which suggest a regex is the best way to do this, instead of, you know, using internal functions already present to scan dates. Because clearly library date functions have to be slower then making your own. One can never trust libraries.

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