WP_Query::parse_orderby( string $orderby ): string|false

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$orderbystring

Alias for the field to order by.

Return value

string|false

Table-prefixed value to used in the ORDER clause. False otherwise.

Performance profile

How much work a call to WP_Query::parse_orderby() 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

Trivial

Touches nothing outside its own arguments.

Scaling

Constant

No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.

Instructions

22–108

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 195.

Plugin surface

None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by

1

1 place in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.

What it touches

• hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()one call below WP_Query::parse_orderby()

What one call costs · 6 distinct outcomes

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

Uses · 1

• sanitize_key()Sanitizes a string key.

Used by · 1

• WP_Query::get_posts()Retrieves an array of posts based on query variables.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

1688	protected function parse_orderby( $orderby ) {1689		global $wpdb;1690 1691		// Used to filter values.1692		$allowed_keys = array(1693			'post_name',1694			'post_author',1695			'post_date',1696			'post_title',1697			'post_modified',1698			'post_parent',1699			'post_type',1700			'name',1701			'author',1702			'date',1703			'title',1704			'modified',1705			'parent',1706			'type',1707			'ID',1708			'menu_order',1709			'comment_count',1710			'rand',1711			'post__in',1712			'post_parent__in',1713			'post_name__in',1714		);1715 1716		$primary_meta_key   = '';1717		$primary_meta_query = false;1718		$meta_clauses       = $this->meta_query->get_clauses();1719		if ( ! empty( $meta_clauses ) ) {1720			$primary_meta_query = reset( $meta_clauses );1721 1722			if ( ! empty( $primary_meta_query['key'] ) ) {1723				$primary_meta_key = $primary_meta_query['key'];1724				$allowed_keys[]   = $primary_meta_key;1725			}1726 1727			$allowed_keys[] = 'meta_value';1728			$allowed_keys[] = 'meta_value_num';1729			$allowed_keys   = array_merge( $allowed_keys, array_keys( $meta_clauses ) );1730		}1731 1732		// If RAND() contains a seed value, sanitize and add to allowed keys.1733		$rand_with_seed = false;1734		if ( preg_match( '/RAND\(([0-9]+)\)/i', $orderby, $matches ) ) {1735			$orderby        = sprintf( 'RAND(%s)', (int) $matches[1] );1736			$allowed_keys[] = $orderby;1737			$rand_with_seed = true;1738		}1739 1740		if ( ! in_array( $orderby, $allowed_keys, true ) ) {1741			return false;1742		}1743 1744		$orderby_clause = '';1745 1746		switch ( $orderby ) {1747			case 'post_name':1748			case 'post_author':1749			case 'post_date':1750			case 'post_title':1751			case 'post_modified':1752			case 'post_parent':1753			case 'post_type':1754			case 'ID':1755			case 'menu_order':1756			case 'comment_count':1757				$orderby_clause = "{$wpdb->posts}.{$orderby}";1758				break;1759			case 'rand':1760				$orderby_clause = 'RAND()';1761				break;1762			case $primary_meta_key:1763			case 'meta_value':1764				if ( ! empty( $primary_meta_query['type'] ) ) {1765					$orderby_clause = "CAST({$primary_meta_query['alias']}.meta_value AS {$primary_meta_query['cast']})";1766				} else {1767					$orderby_clause = "{$primary_meta_query['alias']}.meta_value";

Changelog

Introduced in 4.0.0. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 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-query.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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