get_preferred_from_update_core(): object|array|false
- Since
- 2.7.0
- Source
wp-admin/includes/update.php:16
Compatibility
- WordPress
- since 2.7.0
- 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.
Return value
object|array|false- The response from the API on success, false on failure.
Performance profile
How much work a call to get_preferred_from_update_core() 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
- Scaling
- Constant
- Instructions
- 6–9
- Plugin surface
- None
- Called by
- 4
Reads stored settings via get_site_option(), cached per request but not free on a cold cache.
No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.
Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 12.
Nothing here hands control to plugin code.
4 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.
What it touches
- optionnetwork option
get_site_option()one call below get_preferred_from_update_core() - transienttransient
get_site_transient()one call below get_preferred_from_update_core()
Further down the call graph this can also reach hook, cache, serialize and query. 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_preferred_from_update_core() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
| always | 6–9 | get_core_updates() |
Across PHP versions
Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 12 instructions, 6–9 executed per call, 2 branches. 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.
Uses · 1
- get_core_updates()Gets available core updates.
Used by · 4
- WP_Automatic_Updater::send_email()Sends an email upon the completion or failure of a background core update.
- core_update_footer()Returns core update footer message.
- update_nag()Returns core update notification message.
- update_right_now_message()Displays WordPress version and active theme in the 'At a Glance' dashboard widget.
Source code
function get_preferred_from_update_core() { $updates = get_core_updates(); if ( ! is_array( $updates ) ) { return false; } if ( empty( $updates ) ) { return (object) array( 'response' => 'latest' ); } return $updates[0];}Changelog
Introduced in 2.7.0. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 7.1.0.
Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.
About this page
- Parsed data
- Generated from the wordpress-develop 6.8.8 tag, from
src/wp-admin/includes/update.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it. - Corrections
- Something wrong on this page? Report it and it gets fixed in the next regeneration.