---
title: "The get_boundary_post() WordPress function"
description: "In the event that you need to get either the last or first post based on published date within your WordPress plugin or theme, you can use the get_boundary_post() function. In this article, we will..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/wordpress/get-boundary-post-wordpress-function/
date: 2014-07-07
modified: 2021-05-26
author: "Jeff Matson"
categories: ["WordPress Hosting", "WordPress Tutorials"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# The get_boundary_post() WordPress function

In the event that you need to get either the last or first post based on published date within your WordPress plugin or theme, you can use the *get_boundary_post()* function. In this article, we will show you how to use the *get_boundary_post()* function.

If you would like more information on creating WordPress plugins, see our tutorial series on [creating your first WordPress plugin](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/wordpress/plugins/create-a-wordpress-plugin/).

## Basic usage

<?php get_boundary_post( $in_same_cat, $excluded_categories, $start ); ?>

The post information is placed within a [WP_Post](https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Post) object in which you can then extract any post information you want from it.

### Optional parameters

**$in_same_cat**: This optional parameter accepts a boolean (true or false) value in which it will determine if the post should be in the same category.

**$excluded_categories**: This optional parameter allows you to exclude category IDs that you do not want to be included within the posts that are returned.

**$start**: This optional boolean (true or false) value will allow you to define where it starts. For example, if you are getting the first post, this would be set to *true*. If getting the last post, you would set it to *false*.

## Example

### Displaying the title of the most recent post

In the following example, we use the *get_boundary_post()* function to get a WP_Post object and assign it to a variable. Then, we simply output the post title from the WP_Post object using the PHP *echo* command.

<?php

$boundary = get_boundary_post( false, ”, false );

echo $boundary->post_title;

?>

## References

For more information on the *get_boundary_post()* function, take a look at the [*get_boundary_post()* WordPress Codex page](https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_boundary_post).