Permalink to user profile

Question

How can I retrieve the permalink to a user (author) profile dynamically outside the loop by ID?

an alternative to the_author_link(), but for outside the loop.

Example:

get_author_link($user_id);

Answer 1

I believe the function you want is get_author_posts_url.

Answer 2

<a href=<?php echo get_author_posts_url(get_the_author_meta( 'ID' )); ?>">Author Name</a>