How to keep before/after text inline with nl2br and the_content()

You’d want to use get_the_content() because the_content() echos the output immediately:

echo nl2br( '"<em>' . get_the_content() . '</em>"' );

Depending on what the content contains, you still may run into unexpected results, for example, if the content ends with an unordered list.

If you want to add the quote marks and <em> tags to the content before the standard filters are applied, you can use this approach:

echo nl2br( apply_filters( 'the_content',
    '"<em>' . get_post_field( 'post_content', get_the_ID() ) . '</em>"' ) );

Related Posts:

  1. Only show content before more tag
  2. post_content with line breaks
  3. Why is the_content() not displaying the content? [closed]
  4. Heartbeat API oEmbed
  5. Apply the_content filter for specific post types only
  6. How to to stop html editor from addig tags to shortcodes, images, etc
  7. Static page homepage not showing the_content
  8. How to add an inline style to the tag outputted in the_content() using PHP?
  9. Word limit in post_content after more tag
  10. Is it possible to handle a specific section of a post separately?
  11. Is it possible to change the contents of “the_content()”?
  12. How to encode post content as JSON?
  13. How to output only the post content
  14. How I can split text in the_content() into 2 columns?
  15. How can I show the actual content of Posts page because the_content() is showing all blog content?
  16. the_content() isn’t showing content, but $post->post_content does
  17. preg_replace Remove comment text in content
  18. tag the_content()
  19. Add span to the first letter of post
  20. WordPress replacing all line breaks in comments with “rn”
  21. Proper use of the_content filtering
  22. put the content of a single post into og:description
  23. Output the_title() inside the_content()
  24. the_content is always surrounded by paragraphs (how to disable or remove them)?
  25. $content = $post->post_content; with formating
  26. Filter the_content() in the Quote Post Format to Display Quotes
  27. How to count rows of table in the_content()
  28. WordPress get_the_content get child element like p value
  29. Strip links from the_content
  30. Concatenate a Function to the Post Content
  31. How to change the position of Jetpack sharing icons? [closed]
  32. embed the_content
  33. Hook midway through the_content();?
  34. Appending code to the_content
  35. Missing content in Pages only
  36. Short Overview in AMP Version and Link to full article non-amp [closed]
  37. Changing Image Size In The Content tag
  38. the_content() – Getting formatted text
  39. limit how many words show up in the_content on index
  40. Problem on the_excerpt(); function
  41. How can I display “read more” without any other post text?
  42. WordPress appends the_content filtered text inside last paragraph tag of content (rather than after it)
  43. the_content() printing site title after page/post title and before its content
  44. WordPress adding content into different sections
  45. removing tags around img, iframes and also scripts
  46. Should I find/replace values in the_content?
  47. Remove images from the_content [duplicate]
  48. How to limit the characters shown on the page – get_content
  49. Extract a link in the_content()
  50. Content DISAPPEARS when simply adding normal text for ONE POST ONLY
  51. How do I show current post content in the header?
  52. strip_tags in get_the content
  53. Insert div after h2 in content
  54. the_content() returning unexpected div wrappers
  55. How can I output the content of the page using this code?
  56. filter h1 tag to add a word at the beginning of the text
  57. the_content() brings the medium size image [closed]
  58. How can i specify the size of the image rendered by the_content();?
  59. IF Inside A Function For Content Filter [closed]
  60. content and excerpt not displaying
  61. Get Content Limit?
  62. Append data to the_content within the database (not using filter)
  63. Post Format Link Validation Error
  64. the_content returns blank when adding SEO details
  65. how to include page content to specified length & then “read more” link
  66. How to add multiple the_content or something like that?
  67. Using str_replace on the_content and the_excerpt, but not working on archive index pages
  68. Get specific Blocks from Post
  69. Is there a difference in usage of the_title() and the_content()
  70. How to show Social share buttons outside the post?
  71. WordPress v5.4.2 escapes the content of Edit Attachment > Description field
  72. Remove pre and code tags from WordPress
  73. auto link word link in content
  74. How to parse any content which was added after the working out filter ‘the_content’
  75. One Content Filter To Rule Them All
  76. Extract links inside embed tags in WordPress
  77. Looking to limit the number of characters on my post page
  78. after setup_postdata, the_content() only displays text before the read more tag
  79. Remove P tag from images if aligncenter class is set
  80. Call the content help
  81. Remove a div with ID from the_content WordPress
  82. wp_content text length and displaying ‘more’ for the full text
  83. Modify Ixion Theme to Include Post Excerpt On Main Page
  84. Cannot Find Hook that is changing the_content()
  85. get_post_fields as an excerpt
  86. The_content is different from category archive to other pages [closed]
  87. the_content inside my own theme does not retain line breaks / enters like in the admin
  88. the_content() not working in my Android mobile
  89. Read more link for blog listing page
  90. Add read more to the_content
  91. pre_get_posts returning unformatted page
  92. How to replace text in hompage only
  93. How do I remove the title from the_content
  94. Exactly where I have to insert get_next_post_link() in a post?
  95. Does WP have a hook for the use of wp_trim_words?
  96. I want a part of the_content be under custom post types
  97. Find and replace weird characters in the_content [closed]
  98. How to remove only images from the_content() [duplicate]
  99. Adding schema to text content in the loop, how?
  100. How can I customize the_content(); output? [closed]