WP_Comment::get_children( array $args = array() ): WP_Comment[]

Compatibility

Present in every tracked release (6.7.7 to 7.1.0), and compiles on PHP 7.4 through 8.6-dev.

Parameters

$argsarrayoptional

Array of arguments used to pass to get_comments() and determine format.Default: array()

• $formatstringdefault: 'tree'

  Return value format. 'tree' for a hierarchical tree, 'flat' for a flattened array.

• $statusstringdefault: 'all'

  Comment status to limit results by. Accepts 'hold' (comment_status=0), 'approve' (comment_status=1), 'all', or a custom comment status.

• $hierarchicalstringdefault: 'threaded'

  Whether to include comment descendants in the results. 'threaded' returns a tree, with each comment's children stored in a children property on the WP_Comment object. 'flat' returns a flat array of found comments plus their children. Pass false to leave out descendants. The parameter is ignored (forced to false) when $fields is 'ids' or 'counts'. Accepts 'threaded', 'flat', or false.

• $orderbystring|array

  Comment status or array of statuses. To use 'meta_value' or 'meta_value_num', $meta_key must also be defined. To sort by a specific $meta_query clause, use that clause's array key. Accepts 'comment_agent', 'comment_approved', 'comment_author', 'comment_author_email', 'comment_author_IP', 'comment_author_url', 'comment_content', 'comment_date', 'comment_date_gmt', 'comment_ID', 'comment_karma', 'comment_parent', 'comment_post_ID', 'comment_type', 'user_id', 'comment__in', 'meta_value', 'meta_value_num', the value of $meta_key, and the array keys of $meta_query. Also accepts false, an empty array, or 'none' to disable ORDER BY clause.

Return value

WP_Comment[]

Array of WP_Comment objects.

Performance profile

How much work a call to WP_Comment::get_children() does, and what it touches: the algorithmic scaling, the Zend instruction count per call across PHP versions, the hooks it hands control to, and the core code that calls it. Measured from the compiled opcodes, not a stopwatch, so every number is identical on any machine running the same PHP version, and every function in core is ranked by cost.

Cost class

Heavy

Reaches the database via get_comments().

Scaling

Scales with input

The body loops, so the work grows with what you pass in.

Instructions

18–29

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 49.

Plugin surface

None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by

0

Nothing in core calls this; the cost is only what you spend yourself.

What it touches

• querycontent queryget_comments()called directly

Further down the call graph this can also reach hook. That is the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.

What one call costs · 2 distinct outcomes

One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost WP_Comment::get_children() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

Uses · 2

• wp_parse_args()Merges user defined arguments into defaults array.
• get_comments()Retrieves a list of comments.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

268	public function get_children( $args = array() ) {269		$defaults = array(270			'format'       => 'tree',271			'status'       => 'all',272			'hierarchical' => 'threaded',273			'orderby'      => '',274		);275 276		$_args           = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );277		$_args['parent'] = $this->comment_ID;278 279		if ( is_null( $this->children ) ) {280			if ( $this->populated_children ) {281				$this->children = array();282			} else {283				$this->children = get_comments( $_args );284			}285		}286 287		if ( 'flat' === $_args['format'] ) {288			$children = array();289			foreach ( $this->children as $child ) {290				$child_args           = $_args;291				$child_args['format'] = 'flat';292				// get_children() resets this value automatically.293				unset( $child_args['parent'] );294 295				$children = array_merge( $children, array( $child ), $child->get_children( $child_args ) );296			}297		} else {298			$children = $this->children;299		}300 301		return $children;302	}

Changelog

Introduced in 4.4.0. One change between 6.7.7 and 7.1.0.

1. 6.7.7
2. 6.8.8
3. 6.9.7
4. 7.0.4
5. 7.1.0

Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.

About this page

Parsed data

Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.0.4 tag, from src/wp-includes/class-wp-comment.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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