show top level category only in wordpress meta by-line cubell theme

Question

I am using a theme with the code below to show the categories on the by-line. I was wondering if there is a way to show only the first category, not all of the categories that the post is associated with. My coding skill does not extend this far!

Thanks in advance for any help.

R. Sam

if ( ! function_exists( 'cb_byline' ) ) {
    function cb_byline( $cb_cat = true, $cb_post_id = NULL, $cb_short_comment_line = false, $cb_posts_on = false, $cb_post_views_off = false ) {

        if ( $cb_post_id == NULL ) {
            global $post;
            $cb_post_id = $post->ID;
        }

        $cb_meta_onoff = ot_get_option( 'cb_meta_onoff', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_author = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_author', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_date = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_date', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_category = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_category', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_comments = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_comments', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_postviews = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_postviews', 'off' );
        $cb_disqus_code = ot_get_option( 'cb_disqus_shortname', NULL );
        $cb_byline = $cb_cat_output = $cb_comments = $cb_post_views = NULL;
        $cb_cats = get_the_category($cb_post_id);

        if (  ! empty ( $cb_cats ) && ( $cb_cat == true ) ) {
            $cb_cat_output = ' <div class="cb-category cb-byline-element"><i class="fa fa-folder-o"></i> ';
            $i = 1;
            foreach($cb_cats as $category) {
                if ( $i != 1 ) { $cb_cat_output .= ', '; }
                 $cb_cat_output .= ' <a href="' . get_category_parents( $category->term_id ) . '" title="' . esc_attr( sprintf( __( "View all posts in %s", "cubell" ), $category->name ) ) . '">' . $category->cat_name.'</a>';
                 $i++;
            }
            $cb_cat_output .= '</div>';
        }

Answer 1

if ( ! function_exists( 'cb_byline' ) ) {
    function cb_byline( $cb_cat = true, $cb_post_id = NULL, $cb_short_comment_line = false, $cb_posts_on = false, $cb_post_views_off = false ) {

        if ( $cb_post_id == NULL ) {
            global $post;
            $cb_post_id = $post->ID;
        }

        $cb_meta_onoff = ot_get_option( 'cb_meta_onoff', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_author = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_author', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_date = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_date', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_category = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_category', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_comments = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_comments', 'on' );
        $cb_byline_postviews = ot_get_option( 'cb_byline_postviews', 'off' );
        $cb_disqus_code = ot_get_option( 'cb_disqus_shortname', NULL );
        $cb_byline = $cb_cat_output = $cb_comments = $cb_post_views = NULL;
        $cb_cats = get_the_category($cb_post_id);

        if (  ! empty ( $cb_cats ) && ( $cb_cat == true ) ) {
            $cb_cat_output = ' <div class="cb-category cb-byline-element"><i class="fa fa-folder-o"></i> ';
            $i = 1;
     //       foreach($cb_cats as $category) {
                if ( $i != 1 ) { $cb_cat_output .= ', '; }
                 $cb_cat_output .= ' <a href="' . get_category_parents( $cb_cats[0]->term_id ) . '" title="' . esc_attr( sprintf( __( "View all posts in %s", "cubell" ), $cb_cats[0]->name ) ) . '">' . $cb_cats[0]->cat_name.'</a>';
                 $i++;
    //        }
            $cb_cat_output .= '</div>';
        }