Returning the Author name

I’ve used this to display the author’s name within the loop:

<?php the_author(); ?>

ref: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Function_Reference/the_author

Would this work for you?

I don’t need to display the author’s name, I need to return it to php. Also, I want to use this before the </head> tag, so that means outside the loop.

Ah, thanks for clarifying. Seems like you’re on the right track, according to:

NOTE: Use get_the_author_meta() if you need to return (not display) the information.

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Function_Reference/the_author_meta

Maybe someone else can chime in to confirm if you haven’t already tried it out in your script.

Or use: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Function_Reference/get_the_author

Conditional author tags: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Conditional_Tags#An_Author_Page

$posts[0]->post_author will contain the author id of a post when in single view (outside the loop).

https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/05/06/using-author-template-tags-outside-of-the-wordpress-loop/
https://www.dbuggr.com/milly/obtain-author-id-author-profile-wordpress-loop/
https://markojakic.net/get-author-object-outside-the-loop-in-wordpress