spawn_cron( int $gmt_time )

Sends a request to run cron through HTTP request that doesn’t halt page loading.

Parameters

$gmt_time

(int) (Optional) Unix timestamp (UTC). Default 0 (current time is used).

Return

(bool) True if spawned, false if no events spawned.

Source

File: wp-includes/cron.php

function spawn_cron( $gmt_time = 0 ) {
	if ( ! $gmt_time ) {
		$gmt_time = microtime( true );
	}

	if ( defined( 'DOING_CRON' ) || isset( $_GET['doing_wp_cron'] ) ) {
		return false;
	}

	/*
	 * Get the cron lock, which is a Unix timestamp of when the last cron was spawned
	 * and has not finished running.
	 *
	 * Multiple processes on multiple web servers can run this code concurrently,
	 * this lock attempts to make spawning as atomic as possible.
	 */
	$lock = get_transient( 'doing_cron' );

	if ( $lock > $gmt_time + 10 * MINUTE_IN_SECONDS ) {
		$lock = 0;
	}

	// Don't run if another process is currently running it or more than once every 60 sec.
	if ( $lock + WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT > $gmt_time ) {
		return false;
	}

	// Sanity check.
	$crons = wp_get_ready_cron_jobs();
	if ( empty( $crons ) ) {
		return false;
	}

	$keys = array_keys( $crons );
	if ( isset( $keys[0] ) && $keys[0] > $gmt_time ) {
		return false;
	}

	if ( defined( 'ALTERNATE_WP_CRON' ) && ALTERNATE_WP_CRON ) {
		if ( 'GET' !== $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] || defined( 'DOING_AJAX' ) || defined( 'XMLRPC_REQUEST' ) ) {
			return false;
		}

		$doing_wp_cron = sprintf( '%.22F', $gmt_time );
		set_transient( 'doing_cron', $doing_wp_cron );

		ob_start();
		wp_redirect( add_query_arg( 'doing_wp_cron', $doing_wp_cron, wp_unslash( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ) ) );
		echo ' ';

		// Flush any buffers and send the headers.
		wp_ob_end_flush_all();
		flush();

		include_once ABSPATH . 'wp-cron.php';
		return true;
	}

	// Set the cron lock with the current unix timestamp, when the cron is being spawned.
	$doing_wp_cron = sprintf( '%.22F', $gmt_time );
	set_transient( 'doing_cron', $doing_wp_cron );

	/**
	 * Filters the cron request arguments.
	 *
	 * @since 3.5.0
	 * @since 4.5.0 The `$doing_wp_cron` parameter was added.
	 *
	 * @param array $cron_request_array {
	 *     An array of cron request URL arguments.
	 *
	 *     @type string $url  The cron request URL.
	 *     @type int    $key  The 22 digit GMT microtime.
	 *     @type array  $args {
	 *         An array of cron request arguments.
	 *
	 *         @type int  $timeout   The request timeout in seconds. Default .01 seconds.
	 *         @type bool $blocking  Whether to set blocking for the request. Default false.
	 *         @type bool $sslverify Whether SSL should be verified for the request. Default false.
	 *     }
	 * }
	 * @param string $doing_wp_cron The unix timestamp of the cron lock.
	 */
	$cron_request = apply_filters(
		'cron_request',
		array(
			'url'  => add_query_arg( 'doing_wp_cron', $doing_wp_cron, site_url( 'wp-cron.php' ) ),
			'key'  => $doing_wp_cron,
			'args' => array(
				'timeout'   => 0.01,
				'blocking'  => false,
				/** This filter is documented in wp-includes/class-wp-http-streams.php */
				'sslverify' => apply_filters( 'https_local_ssl_verify', false ),
			),
		),
		$doing_wp_cron
	);

	$result = wp_remote_post( $cron_request['url'], $cron_request['args'] );
	return ! is_wp_error( $result );
}

Changelog

Version Description
5.1.0 Return values added.
2.1.0 Introduced.

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Licensed under the GNU GPLv2+ License.
https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/spawn_cron