ign_posted_on()

aken from twenty-seventeen, this echoes a time element with the publish date of the post. It might also return the update date of the post.

File: inc/template-tags.php

function ign_posted_on() {
	// post published and modified dates
	echo '<div class="posted-on">' . ign_time_link() . '</div>';
}

This function does rely on the ign_time_link() function:

function ign_time_link() {
	$time_string = '<time class="published" datetime="%1$s">%2$s</time>';

//if when post was made does not equal the modified date
	if ( get_the_time( 'U' ) !== get_the_modified_time( 'U' ) ) {
		$time_string = '<time class="published" datetime="%1$s">%2$s</time><time class="updated" datetime="%3$s">%4$s</time>';
	}

	$time_string = sprintf( $time_string,
		get_the_date( DATE_W3C ),
		get_the_date(),
		get_the_modified_date( DATE_W3C ),
		get_the_modified_date()
	);

// Wrap the time string in a link, and preface it with 'Posted on'.
	return sprintf(
	/* translators: %s: post date */
		__( '<span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on</span> %s', 'ben-landel' ),
		'<a class="entry-date" href="' . esc_url( get_permalink() ) . '" rel="bookmark">' . $time_string . '</a>'
	);
}