How do I see the mysql query generated by get_posts( $args )?

Question

I'm trying to use get_posts( $args ) to get some custom post types. Is there a way to see the mysql query generated by the get_posts function?

Answer 1

Thank you to Tom J Nowell for pointing me to using WP_Query instead of get_posts. With WP_Query you have the entire WP_Query object to reference. So something like the following gives the actual mysql query of the args I was using.

// these same args also worked with get_posts()
$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'post',
    'order' => 'ASC',
    'post_status' => 'publish',
);

// create a new WP_Query object with the args above
$the_object = new WP_Query($args);

// show the mysql as a string
echo $the_object->request;

// see EVERYTHING in the WP_Query object
var_dump($the_object);