WP: Query for current author ID

gistfile1.aw

/**
 * Query DB for current author ID
 *
 * @global class $wpdb      Global WordPress Database class
 * @param String $author    Author name from URL, identical to user_nicename in users table
 * @return String           User ID of author
 */
function get_author_id( $author ) {
    global $wpdb;
    $author_id = $wpdb->get_results( "SELECT `ID` from $wpdb->users u WHERE u.`user_nicename` = '$author'" );
    return $author_id[0]->ID;
}