esc_textarea( string $text ): string

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$textstring

Return value

string

Escaped text.

Performance profile

How much work a call to esc_textarea() 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

Moderate

Reads stored settings via get_option(), cached per request but not free on a cold cache.

Scaling

Constant

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

Instructions

16

Executed per call on PHP 8.5. The body compiles to 16.

Plugin surface

1 hook

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

Called by

11

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

What it touches

• optionoption read or writeget_option()called directly
• hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()called directly
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_get()one call below esc_textarea()
• serializeserialisationmaybe_unserialize()one call below esc_textarea()

Further down the call graph this can also reach query 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 esc_textarea() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

Hooks and filters fired · 1

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

1. 1
   apply_filters( esc_textarea )filterline 4811 (+10 into the body)

   Filters a string cleaned and escaped for output in a textarea element.

Uses · 2

• get_option()Retrieves an option value based on an option name.
• apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.

Used by · 11

• WP_Comments_List_Table::column_comment()Outputs the comment column.
• WP_Customize_Control::render_content()Renders the control's content.
• WP_Widget_Block::form()Outputs the Block widget settings form.
• WP_Widget_Custom_HTML::form()Outputs the Custom HTML widget settings form.
• WP_Widget_Text::form()Outputs the Text widget settings form.
• Walker_Nav_Menu_Edit::start_el()Start the element output.
• _list_meta_row()Outputs a single row of public meta data in the Custom Fields meta box.
• format_to_edit()Acts on text which is about to be edited.
• get_inline_data()Adds hidden fields with the data for use in the inline editor for posts and pages.
• network_step2()Prints step 2 for Network installation process.
• print_embed_sharing_dialog()Prints the necessary markup for the embed sharing dialog.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

4801function esc_textarea( $text ) {4802	$safe_text = htmlspecialchars( $text, ENT_QUOTES, get_option( 'blog_charset' ) );4803	/**4804	 * Filters a string cleaned and escaped for output in a textarea element.4805	 *4806	 * @since 3.1.04807	 *4808	 * @param string $safe_text The text after it has been escaped.4809	 * @param string $text      The text prior to being escaped.4810	 */4811	return apply_filters( 'esc_textarea', $safe_text, $text );4812}

Changelog

Introduced in 3.1.0. 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/formatting.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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