get_category_parents( int $category_id, bool $link = false, string $separator = '/', bool $nicename = false, array $deprecated = array() ): string|WP_Error

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$category_idint

Category ID.

$linkbooloptional

Whether to format with link. Default false.Default: false

$separatorstringoptional

How to separate categories. Default '/'.Default: '/'

$nicenamebooloptional

Whether to use nice name for display. Default false.Default: false

$deprecatedarrayoptional

Not used.Default: array()

Return value

string|WP_Error

A list of category parents on success, WP_Error on failure.

Performance profile

How much work a call to get_category_parents() 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_term().

Scaling

Constant

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

Instructions

20–25

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 26.

Plugin surface

None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by

2

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

What it touches

• hookthird-party callbacksdo_action()one call below get_category_parents()
• querycontent queryget_term()one call below get_category_parents()

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 · 2 distinct outcomes

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

Uses · 2

• _deprecated_argument()Marks a function argument as deprecated and inform when it has been used.
• get_term_parents_list()Retrieves term parents with separator.

Used by · 2

• get_permalink()Retrieves the full permalink for the current post or post ID.
• get_the_category_list()Retrieves category list for a post in either HTML list or custom format.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

47function get_category_parents( $category_id, $link = false, $separator = '/', $nicename = false, $deprecated = array() ) {48 49	if ( ! empty( $deprecated ) ) {50		_deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '4.8.0' );51	}52 53	$format = $nicename ? 'slug' : 'name';54 55	$args = array(56		'separator' => $separator,57		'link'      => $link,58		'format'    => $format,59	);60 61	return get_term_parents_list( $category_id, 'category', $args );62}

Changelog

Introduced in 1.2.0. 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/category-template.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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