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WordPress

count_user_posts( int $userid, array|string $post_type = 'post', bool $public_only = false ): string

Since
3.0.0, 4.1.0, 4.3.0
Source
wp-includes/user.php:616
Gets the number of posts a user has written.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 4.3.0
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

$useridint
User ID.
$post_typearray|stringoptional
Single post type or array of post types to count the number of posts for. Default 'post'.Default: 'post'
$public_onlybooloptional
Whether to only return counts for public posts. Default false.Default: false

Return value

string
Number of posts the user has written in this post type.

Performance profile

How much work a call to count_user_posts() 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_var().

Scaling
Constant

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

Instructions
48–58

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 58.

Plugin surface
1 hook

Third-party callbacks on 'get_usernumposts' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by
4

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

What it touches

  • cacheobject cachewp_cache_get_last_changed()called directly
  • hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()called directly
  • sqldatabase query->get_var()called directly

Further down the call graph this can also reach query, option, 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 · 2 distinct outcomes

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

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
$count !== false48array_unique(), sort(), get_posts_by_author_sql(), wp_cache_get_last_changed(), md5(), wp_cache_get_salted(), apply_filters()
$count === false58array_unique(), sort(), get_posts_by_author_sql(), wp_cache_get_last_changed(), md5(), wp_cache_get_salted(), ->get_var(), wp_cache_set_salted(), apply_filters()

Across PHP versions

Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 58 instructions, 48–58 executed per call, 1 branch. 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.

Hooks and filters fired · 1

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

  1. apply_filters( get_usernumposts )filterline 645 (+29 into the body)

    Filters the number of posts a user has written.

Uses · 5

Used by · 4

Source code

function count_user_posts( $userid, $post_type = 'post', $public_only = false ) {	global $wpdb; 	$post_type = array_unique( (array) $post_type );	sort( $post_type ); 	$where = get_posts_by_author_sql( $post_type, true, $userid, $public_only );	$query = "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->posts $where"; 	$last_changed = wp_cache_get_last_changed( 'posts' );	$cache_key    = 'count_user_posts:' . md5( $query );	$count        = wp_cache_get_salted( $cache_key, 'post-queries', $last_changed );	if ( false === $count ) {		$count = $wpdb->get_var( $query );		wp_cache_set_salted( $cache_key, $count, 'post-queries', $last_changed );	} 	/**	 * Filters the number of posts a user has written.	 *	 * @since 2.7.0	 * @since 4.1.0 Added `$post_type` argument.	 * @since 4.3.1 Added `$public_only` argument.	 *	 * @param string       $count       The user's post count as a numeric string.	 * @param int          $userid      User ID.	 * @param string|array $post_type   Single post type or array of post types to count the number of posts for.	 * @param bool         $public_only Whether to limit counted posts to public posts.	 */	return apply_filters( 'get_usernumposts', $count, $userid, $post_type, $public_only );}

Changelog

Introduced in 3.0.0. 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.

4.3.0
Added $public_only argument. Added the ability to pass an array of post types to $post_type.from the docblock
4.1.0
Added $post_type argument.from the docblock
3.0.0
Introduced.from the docblock

About this page

Parsed data
Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.1.0 tag, from src/wp-includes/user.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
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