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WP_REST_Terms_Controller::delete_item( WP_REST_Request $request ): WP_REST_Response|WP_Error

Since
4.7.0
Source
wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-terms-controller.php:770
Deletes a single term from a taxonomy.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 4.7.0
PHP
7.4–8.6-dev
  • 6.7.7
  • 6.8.8
  • 6.9.7
  • 7.0.4
  • 7.1.0

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

Parameters

$requestWP_REST_Request
Full details about the request.

Return value

WP_REST_Response|WP_Error
Response object on success, or WP_Error object on failure.

Performance profile

How much work a call to WP_REST_Terms_Controller::delete_item() 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_term().

Scaling
Constant

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

Instructions
12–56

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 80.

Plugin surface
1 hook

Third-party callbacks on 'rest_delete_{$this->taxonomy}' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by
0

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

What it touches

  • hookthird-party callbacksdo_action()called directly
  • optionoption read or writeget_option()one call below WP_REST_Terms_Controller::delete_item()
  • querycontent queryget_term()one call below WP_REST_Terms_Controller::delete_item()

Further down the call graph this can also reach cache, serialize and transient. Those are the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.

What one call costs · 4 distinct outcomes

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

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
is_wp_error()12->get_term(), is_wp_error()
!is_wp_error()29–31->get_term(), is_wp_error(), __(), sprintf()
!is_wp_error()44–46->get_term(), is_wp_error(), ->set_param(), ->prepare_item_for_response(), wp_delete_term(), __()
!is_wp_error()54–56->get_term(), is_wp_error(), ->set_param(), ->prepare_item_for_response(), wp_delete_term(), ->get_data(), deleted(), do_action()

Across PHP versions

PHPCompiledExecutedBranchesNotes
8.6-dev8012–564
8.58012–564
8.48012–564
8.38012–564
8.28012–564
8.18012–5641 fewer instruction than PHP 7.4
7.48112–574

An instruction is not a fixed amount of time, so a matching count is not necessarily the same speed; what it rules out is a difference in the work itself.

Hooks and filters fired · 1

One hook fires while WP_REST_Terms_Controller::delete_item() runs, in this order:

  1. do_action( rest_delete_{$this->taxonomy} )actionline 826 (+56 into the body)

    Fires after a single term is deleted via the REST API.

Uses · 8

Source code

	public function delete_item( $request ) {		$term = $this->get_term( $request['id'] );		if ( is_wp_error( $term ) ) {			return $term;		} 		$force = isset( $request['force'] ) ? (bool) $request['force'] : false; 		// We don't support trashing for terms.		if ( ! $force ) {			return new WP_Error(				'rest_trash_not_supported',				/* translators: %s: force=true */				sprintf( __( "Terms do not support trashing. Set '%s' to delete." ), 'force=true' ),				array( 'status' => 501 )			);		} 		$request->set_param( 'context', 'view' ); 		$previous = $this->prepare_item_for_response( $term, $request ); 		$retval = wp_delete_term( $term->term_id, $term->taxonomy ); 		if ( ! $retval ) {			return new WP_Error(				'rest_cannot_delete',				__( 'The term cannot be deleted.' ),				array( 'status' => 500 )			);		} 		$response = new WP_REST_Response();		$response->set_data(			array(				'deleted'  => true,				'previous' => $previous->get_data(),			)		); 		/**		 * Fires after a single term is deleted via the REST API.		 *		 * The dynamic portion of the hook name, `$this->taxonomy`, refers to the taxonomy slug.		 *		 * Possible hook names include:		 *		 *  - `rest_delete_category`		 *  - `rest_delete_post_tag`		 *		 * @since 4.7.0		 *		 * @param WP_Term          $term     The deleted term.		 * @param WP_REST_Response $response The response data.		 * @param WP_REST_Request  $request  The request sent to the API.		 */		do_action( "rest_delete_{$this->taxonomy}", $term, $response, $request ); 		return $response;	}

Changelog

Introduced in 4.7.0. 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 6.9.7 tag, from src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-terms-controller.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
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