add_settings_section( string $id, string $title, callable $callback, string $page, array $args = array() )
- Since
- 2.7.0, 6.1.0
- Source
wp-admin/includes/template.php:1634
Description
Part of the Settings API. Use this to define new settings sections for an admin page.
Show settings sections in your admin page callback function with do_settings_sections().
Add settings fields to your section with add_settings_field().
The $callback argument should be the name of a function that echoes out any content you want to show at the top of the settings section before the actual fields. It can output nothing if you want.
Compatibility
- WordPress
- since 6.1.0
- 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
$idstring- Slug-name to identify the section. Used in the 'id' attribute of tags.
$titlestring- Formatted title of the section. Shown as the heading for the section.
$callbackcallable- Function that displays any content at the top of the section (between heading and fields).
$pagestring- The slug-name of the settings page on which to show the section. Built-in pages include 'general', 'reading', 'writing', 'discussion', 'media', etc. Create your own using add_options_page();
$argsarrayoptional- Arguments used to create the settings section.Default:
array()$before_sectionstringdefault: emptyHTML content to prepend to the section's HTML output. Receives the section's class name as%s.$after_sectionstringdefault: emptyHTML content to append to the section's HTML output.$section_classstringdefault: emptyThe class name to use for the section.
Performance profile
How much work a call to add_settings_section() 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
- Scaling
- Constant
- Instructions
- 26–52
- Plugin surface
- None
- Called by
- 1
Touches nothing outside its own arguments.
No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.
Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 52.
Nothing here hands control to plugin code.
1 place in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.
What it touches
- hookthird-party callbacks
do_action()one call below add_settings_section()
Further down the call graph this can also reach query, option, 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 · 3 distinct outcomes
One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost add_settings_section() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
$page !== "misc" && $page !== "privacy" | 26 | wp_parse_args() |
| always | 39 | wp_parse_args(), __(), sprintf(), _deprecated_argument() |
$page === "misc" && $page === "privacy" | 52 | wp_parse_args(), __(), sprintf(), _deprecated_argument(), __(), sprintf(), _deprecated_argument() |
Across PHP versions
Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 52 instructions, 26–52 executed per call, 2 branches. The work does not change between versions.
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.
Uses · 3
- wp_parse_args()Merges user defined arguments into defaults array.
- _deprecated_argument()Marks a function argument as deprecated and inform when it has been used.
- __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
Used by · 1
- twentyeleven_theme_options_init()Registers the form setting for our twentyeleven_options array.
Source code
function add_settings_section( $id, $title, $callback, $page, $args = array() ) { global $wp_settings_sections; $defaults = array( 'id' => $id, 'title' => $title, 'callback' => $callback, 'before_section' => '', 'after_section' => '', 'section_class' => '', ); $section = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults ); if ( 'misc' === $page ) { _deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '3.0.0', sprintf( /* translators: %s: misc */ __( 'The "%s" options group has been removed. Use another settings group.' ), 'misc' ) ); $page = 'general'; } if ( 'privacy' === $page ) { _deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '3.5.0', sprintf( /* translators: %s: privacy */ __( 'The "%s" options group has been removed. Use another settings group.' ), 'privacy' ) ); $page = 'reading'; } $wp_settings_sections[ $page ][ $id ] = $section;}Changelog
Introduced in 2.7.0. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 7.1.0.
Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.
$args parameter for the section's HTML wrapper and class name.from the docblockAbout this page
- Parsed data
- Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.1.0 tag, from
src/wp-admin/includes/template.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it. - Corrections
- Something wrong on this page? Report it and it gets fixed in the next regeneration.