get_links( int $category = -1, string $before = '', string $after = '<br />', string $between = ' ', bool $show_images = true, string $orderby = 'name', bool $show_description = true, bool $show_rating = false, int $limit = -1, int $show_updated = 1, bool $display = true ): null|string

Compatibility

Deprecated in WordPress 2.1.0. Use get_bookmarks()

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

Parameters

$categoryintoptional

The category to use. If no category supplied uses all.
Default 0.Default: -1

$beforestringoptional

The HTML to output before the link. Default empty.Default: ''

$afterstringoptional

The HTML to output after the link. Default '
'.Default: '<br />'

$betweenstringoptional

The HTML to output between the link/image and its description.
Not used if no image or $show_images is true. Default ' '.Default: ' '

$show_imagesbooloptional

Whether to show images (if defined). Default true.Default: true

$orderbystringoptional

The order to output the links. E.g. 'id', 'name', 'url', 'description', 'rating', or 'owner'. Default 'name'.
If you start the name with an underscore, the order will be reversed.
Specifying 'rand' as the order will return links in a random order.Default: 'name'

$show_descriptionbooloptional

Whether to show the description if show_images=false/not defined.
Default true.Default: true

$show_ratingbooloptional

Show rating stars/chars. Default false.Default: false

$limitintoptional

Limit to X entries. If not specified, all entries are shown.
Default -1.Default: -1

$show_updatedintoptional

Whether to show last updated timestamp. Default 1.Default: 1

$displaybooloptional

Whether to display the results, or return them instead.Default: true

Return value

null|string

Performance profile

How much work a call to get_links() 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

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

Scaling

Scales with input

The body loops, so the work grows with what you pass in.

Instructions

37–39

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 200.

Plugin surface

None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by

3

3 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 callbacksdo_action()one call below get_links()
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_get()one call below get_links()
• serializeserialisationmaybe_unserialize()one call below get_links()

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 get_links() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

This body has more branch combinations than are worth enumerating, so the table covers the outcomes found first rather than every one that exists.

Uses · 10

• _deprecated_function()Marks a function as deprecated and inform when it has been used.
• str_starts_with()Polyfill for `str_starts_with()` function added in PHP 8.0.
• get_bookmarks()Retrieves the list of bookmarks.
• get_option()Retrieves an option value based on an option name.
• esc_url()Checks and cleans a URL.
• esc_attr()Escaping for HTML attributes.
• sanitize_bookmark_field()Sanitizes a bookmark field.
• __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
• str_contains()Polyfill for `str_contains()` function added in PHP 8.0.
• get_linkrating()Legacy function that retrieved the value of a link's link_rating field.

Used by · 3

• get_links_list()Output entire list of links by category.
• get_links_withrating()Gets the links associated with category n and display rating stars/chars.
• get_linksbyname()Gets the links associated with category $cat_name.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

949function get_links($category = -1, $before = '', $after = '<br />', $between = ' ', $show_images = true, $orderby = 'name',950			$show_description = true, $show_rating = false, $limit = -1, $show_updated = 1, $display = true) {951	_deprecated_function( __FUNCTION__, '2.1.0', 'get_bookmarks()' );952 953	$order = 'ASC';954	if ( str_starts_with($orderby, '_') ) {955		$order = 'DESC';956		$orderby = substr($orderby, 1);957	}958 959	if ( $category == -1 ) // get_bookmarks() uses '' to signify all categories.960		$category = '';961 962	$results = get_bookmarks(array('category' => $category, 'orderby' => $orderby, 'order' => $order, 'show_updated' => $show_updated, 'limit' => $limit));963 964	if ( !$results )965		return;966 967	$output = '';968 969	foreach ( (array) $results as $row ) {970		if ( !isset($row->recently_updated) )971			$row->recently_updated = false;972		$output .= $before;973		if ( $show_updated && $row->recently_updated )974			$output .= get_option('links_recently_updated_prepend');975		$the_link = '#';976		if ( !empty($row->link_url) )977			$the_link = esc_url($row->link_url);978		$rel = $row->link_rel;979		if ( '' != $rel )980			$rel = ' rel="' . $rel . '"';981 982		$desc = esc_attr(sanitize_bookmark_field('link_description', $row->link_description, $row->link_id, 'display'));983		$name = esc_attr(sanitize_bookmark_field('link_name', $row->link_name, $row->link_id, 'display'));984		$title = $desc;985 986		if ( $show_updated )987			if ( !str_starts_with($row->link_updated_f, '00') )988				$title .= ' ('.__('Last updated') . ' ' . gmdate(get_option('links_updated_date_format'), $row->link_updated_f + (get_option('gmt_offset') * HOUR_IN_SECONDS)) . ')';989 990		if ( '' != $title )991			$title = ' title="' . $title . '"';992 993		$alt = ' alt="' . $name . '"';994 995		$target = $row->link_target;996		if ( '' != $target )997			$target = ' target="' . $target . '"';998 999		$output .= '<a href="' . $the_link . '"' . $rel . $title . $target. '>';1000 1001		if ( '' != $row->link_image && $show_images ) {1002			if ( str_contains( $row->link_image, 'http' ) )1003				$output .= '<img src="' . $row->link_image . '"' . $alt . $title . ' />';1004			else // If it's a relative path.1005				$output .= '<img src="' . get_option('siteurl') . $row->link_image . '"' . $alt . $title . ' />';1006		} else {1007			$output .= $name;1008		}1009 1010		$output .= '</a>';1011 1012		if ( $show_updated && $row->recently_updated )1013			$output .= get_option('links_recently_updated_append');1014 1015		if ( $show_description && '' != $desc )1016			$output .= $between . $desc;1017 1018		if ($show_rating) {1019			$output .= $between . get_linkrating($row);1020		}1021 1022		$output .= "$after\n";1023	} // End while.1024 1025	if ( !$display )1026		return $output;1027	echo $output;1028}

Changelog

Introduced in 0.71. 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

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