Expire posts to draft using a datepicker field in ACF

functions.php

// Expire events
if ($expireTransient = get_transient($post->ID) === false) {
	set_transient($post->ID, 'set for 1 minutes', 1 * MINUTE_IN_SECONDS );
	$today = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', current_time('timestamp', 0));
	$args = array(
		'post_type' => 'events',
		'posts_per_page' => 200,
		'post_status' => 'publish',
		'meta_query' => array(
			array(
				'key' => 'end_date_time',
				'value' => $today,
				'compare' => '<='
			)
		)
	);
	$posts = get_posts($args);
	foreach( $posts as $post ) {
		if(get_field('end_date_time', $post->ID)) {
			$postdata = array(
				'ID' => $post->ID,
				'post_status' => 'draft'
			);
			wp_update_post($postdata);
		}
	}
}

Thanks so much for sharing! Quick question though, since I am a Wordpress newb:

I have to name the field for the expiry datepicker 'end_date_time' right?

And this function does not draft events that have happened already right? Since it compares it to 'today's date'

Yep correct.

Great code!
Do i need to change 1 * DAY_IN_SECONDS If i want to check date daily?

This is my code:

if ($expireTransient = get_transient($post->ID) === false) {
	set_transient($post->ID, 'set for 1 days', 1 * DAY_IN_SECONDS );
	$today = date('Ymd');
	$args = array(
		'post_type' => 'b2bking_rule',
		'posts_per_page' => -1,
		'post_status' => 'publish',
		'meta_query' => array(
			array(
				'key' => 'do_datuma',
				'value' => $today,
				'compare' => '<='
			)
		)
	);
	$posts = get_posts($args);
	foreach( $posts as $post ) {
		if(get_field('do_datuma', $post->ID)) {
			$postdata = array(
				'ID' => $post->ID,
				'post_status' => 'draft'
			);
			wp_update_post($postdata);
		}
	}
}

Thanks!

Yep, that change looks correct.
https://codex.wordpress.org/Easier_Expression_of_Time_Constants

Great! Thanks!

How would I use the code if I wish to expire multiple post types?

This is great - works like a charm - Anyway we can change the post category as well? - Thanks!

Should be possible.

Looks like I got the category to change aswell: But shouldn't this be wrapped into a function? I feel this would hammer the server no?

if ($expireTransient = get_transient($post->ID) === false) {
	set_transient($post->ID, 'set for 1 minutes', 1 * MINUTE_IN_SECONDS );
	$today = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', current_time('timestamp', 0));
	$args = array(
		'post_type' => 'post',
		'posts_per_page' => 200,
		'post_status' => 'publish',
		'meta_query' => array(
			array(
				'key' => 'end_date_time',
				'value' => $today,
				'compare' => '<='
			)
		)
	);
	$posts = get_posts($args);
	foreach( $posts as $post ) {
		if(get_field('end_date_time', $post->ID)) {
     
			$postdata = array(
       
				'ID' => $post->ID,
				'post_status' => 'publish'
			);

                        // Below changes the category of the post. 
                        
                        $post_id = $post->ID;
                  
                        wp_set_post_categories( $post_id, array(13), $append ); // id of category in array. 
                            
                        wp_update_post($postdata); 
		 }
	}
}

Go wrap it in a function and change the transient to expire later if needed.

Hi Luke,

First of all, great piece of code! Really does what I need it to do.
Having said that, in debug mode the 2nd line of this code gives me some errors.

Notice: Undefined variable: post and Notice: Trying to get property of non-object.

I was wondering if you could tell me how to get rid of this error?
I just don’t understand why it’s giving me an error while the code works.
Trying to wrap the whole thing in a function and then adding global $post; at the start. This makes the errors go away, but then the code doesn’t do its thing anymore.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Kind regards,
Sarthak Priyadarshan

Thank you for this code, I use it often. Most of my sites I host on Siteground and have no issue, but for some reason this will not work on AWS Lightsail or EC2. Would you have any advice or idea why that might be?