wpdb::delete( string $table, array $where, string[]|string $where_format = null ): int|false

Description

$wpdb->delete(
 'table',
 array(
 'ID' => 1,
 )
);
$wpdb->delete(
 'table',
 array(
 'ID' => 1,
 ),
 array(
 '%d',
 )
);

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$tablestring

Table name.

$wherearray

A named array of WHERE clauses (in column => value pairs).
Multiple clauses will be joined with ANDs.
Both $where columns and $where values should be "raw".
Sending a null value will create an IS NULL comparison - the corresponding format will be ignored in this case.

$where_formatstring[]|stringoptional

An array of formats to be mapped to each of the values in $where.
If string, that format will be used for all of the items in $where.
A format is one of '%d', '%f', '%s' (integer, float, string).
If omitted, all values in $where will be treated as strings unless otherwise specified in wpdb::$field_types. Default null.Default: null

Return value

int|false

The number of rows deleted, or false on error.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wpdb::delete() 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 wpdb::delete().

Scaling

Scales with input

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

Instructions

6–34

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 57.

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

• sqldatabase querywpdb::delete()this function does it

What one call costs · 3 distinct outcomes

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

Uses · 3

• wpdb::process_fields()Processes arrays of field/value pairs and field formats.
• wpdb::query()Performs a database query, using current database connection.
• wpdb::prepare()Prepares a SQL query for safe execution.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

2765	public function delete( $table, $where, $where_format = null ) {2766		if ( ! is_array( $where ) ) {2767			return false;2768		}2769 2770		$where = $this->process_fields( $table, $where, $where_format );2771		if ( false === $where ) {2772			return false;2773		}2774 2775		$conditions = array();2776		$values     = array();2777		foreach ( $where as $field => $value ) {2778			if ( is_null( $value['value'] ) ) {2779				$conditions[] = "`$field` IS NULL";2780				continue;2781			}2782 2783			$conditions[] = "`$field` = " . $value['format'];2784			$values[]     = $value['value'];2785		}2786 2787		$conditions = implode( ' AND ', $conditions );2788 2789		$sql = "DELETE FROM `$table` WHERE $conditions";2790 2791		$this->check_current_query = false;2792		return $this->query( $this->prepare( $sql, $values ) );2793	}

Changelog

Introduced in 3.4.0. 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 7.1.0 tag, from src/wp-includes/class-wpdb.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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