wppaste
WordPress

comment_class( string|string[] $css_class = '', int|WP_Comment $comment = null, int|WP_Post $post = null, bool $display = true ): void|string

Since
2.7.0, 4.4.0
Source
wp-includes/comment-template.php:493
Generates semantic classes for each comment element.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 4.4.0
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

$css_classstring|string[]optional
One or more classes to add to the class list.
Default empty.Default: ''
$commentint|WP_Commentoptional
Comment ID or WP_Comment object. Default current comment.Default: null
$postint|WP_Postoptional
Post ID or WP_Post object. Default current post.Default: null
$displaybooloptional
Whether to print or return the output.
Default true.Default: true

Return value

void|string
Void if $display argument is true, comment classes if $display is false.

Performance profile

How much work a call to comment_class() 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_post().

Scaling
Constant

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

Instructions
15–16

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 17.

Plugin surface
None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by
10

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

What it touches

  • querycontent queryget_post()one call below comment_class()
  • hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()one call below comment_class()

Further down the call graph this can also reach 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 · 1 distinct outcome

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

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
always15–16get_comment_class()

Across PHP versions

PHPCompiledExecutedBranchesNotes
8.6-dev1715–161
8.51715–161
8.41715–1613 fewer instructions than PHP 8.3
8.32018–191
8.22018–191
8.12018–191
7.42018–191

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 · 1

Used by · 10

Source code

function comment_class( $css_class = '', $comment = null, $post = null, $display = true ) {	// Separates classes with a single space, collates classes for comment DIV.	$css_class = 'class="' . implode( ' ', get_comment_class( $css_class, $comment, $post ) ) . '"'; 	if ( $display ) {		echo $css_class;	} else {		return $css_class;	}}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.7.0. 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.

4.4.0
Added the ability for $comment to also accept a WP_Comment object.from the docblock
2.7.0
Introduced.from the docblock

About this page

Parsed data
Generated from the wordpress-develop 6.9.7 tag, from src/wp-includes/comment-template.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
Corrections
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