Eliminate specific text from post pages – how?

You can create a child theme, add a functions.php file in it, and replace the following:

from:

$utility_text = __( 'This entry was posted in %1$s and tagged %2$s on %3$s<span class="by-author"> by %4$s</span>.', 'twentytwelve' );

to:

$utility_text = __( '%1$s %2$s <span class="by-author"> by %4$s</span>.', 'twentytwelve' );

I do have a child theme as I initially mentioned above. I did login to my account using: APPEARANCE>EDITOR>and on right side of page it shows a column and in the column I see ‘Theme Functions (functions.php) as you mention, and I click that and my ‘functions.php’ opens. However I scrolled up and down and see no php starting with the “$utility_text +_” etc. Am I in wrong one maybe? THANKS! (I am NOT intimidated!lol)

Hmm, I can see it there. Did you do CONT+F and search “$utility_text” ?
It is right under:

// Translators: 1 is category, 2 is tag, 3 is the date and 4 is the author’s name.

@kaniamea – are these the instructions as to how to do this in a child theme functions.php file? A child theme functions file does not have a duplicate of the parent theme file.

I did that CONT+F and searched “$utility_text” but results said “phrase not found” – wondering……….

@danno1, ok, since you are using a child theme of Twenty Twelve do the following:

So, create a brand new functions.php and save it in your child theme folder in wp-content/themes/YOUR THEME with the name “functions.php”. The content of this new file should include this:

<?php

function twentytwelve_entry_meta() {
	// Translators: used between list items, there is a space after the comma.
	$categories_list = get_the_category_list( __( ', ', 'twentytwelve' ) );

	// Translators: used between list items, there is a space after the comma.
	$tag_list = get_the_tag_list( '', __( ', ', 'twentytwelve' ) );

	$date = sprintf( '<a href="%1$s" title="%2$s" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="%3$s">%4$s</time></a>',
		esc_url( get_permalink() ),
		esc_attr( get_the_time() ),
		esc_attr( get_the_date( 'c' ) ),
		esc_html( get_the_date() )
	);

	$author = sprintf( '<span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="%1$s" title="%2$s" rel="author">%3$s</a></span>',
		esc_url( get_author_posts_url( get_the_author_meta( 'ID' ) ) ),
		esc_attr( sprintf( __( 'View all posts by %s', 'twentytwelve' ), get_the_author() ) ),
		get_the_author()
	);

	// Translators: 1 is category, 2 is tag, 3 is the date and 4 is the author's name.
	if ( $tag_list ) {
		$utility_text = __( '%1$s %2$s <span class="by-author"> by %4$s</span>.', 'twentytwelve' );
	} elseif ( $categories_list ) {
		$utility_text = __( 'This entry was posted in %1$s on %3$s<span class="by-author"> by %4$s</span>.', 'twentytwelve' );
	} else {
		$utility_text = __( 'This entry was posted on %3$s<span class="by-author"> by %4$s</span>.', 'twentytwelve' );
	}

	printf(
		$utility_text,
		$categories_list,
		$tag_list,
		$date,
		$author
	);
}

?>

This should be able to do what you need. In case you need to further modify this file you can do it from your Appearance => Editor => functions.php

Hope this helps!