get_stylesheet_directory(): string
- Since
- 1.5.0, 6.4.0, 6.4.2
- Source
wp-includes/theme.php:201
Compatibility
- WordPress
- since 6.4.2
- 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
string- Path to active theme's stylesheet directory.
Performance profile
How much work a call to get_stylesheet_directory() 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
- 17
- Plugin surface
- 1 hook
- Called by
- 20
Reads stored settings via get_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. The body compiles to 17.
Third-party callbacks on 'stylesheet_directory' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.
20 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.
What it touches
- hookthird-party callbacks
apply_filters()called directly - optionoption read or write
get_option()one call below get_stylesheet_directory()
Further down the call graph this can also reach cache, serialize, transient 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_stylesheet_directory() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
| always | 17 | get_stylesheet(), get_theme_root(), 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: 17 instructions, 17 executed per call, 0 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.
Hooks and filters fired · 1
One hook fires while get_stylesheet_directory() runs, in this order:
- apply_filters( stylesheet_directory )filterline 215 (+14 into the body)
Filters the stylesheet directory path for the active theme.
Uses · 3
- get_stylesheet()Retrieves name of the current stylesheet.
- get_theme_root()Retrieves path to themes directory.
- apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
Used by · 20
- WP_Customize_Manager::prepare_starter_content_attachments()Prepares starter content attachments.
- WP_Debug_Data::get_wp_active_theme()Gets the WordPress active theme section of the debug data.
- WP_Theme_JSON_Resolver::get_file_path_from_theme()Builds the path to the given file and checks that it is readable.
- WP_Theme_JSON_Resolver::get_style_variations()Returns the style variations defined by the theme.
- _get_block_template_file()Retrieves the template file from the theme for a given slug.
- _get_block_templates_files()Retrieves the template files from the theme.
- _load_textdomain_just_in_time()Loads plugin and theme text domains just-in-time.
- get_block_asset_url()Gets the URL to a block asset.
- get_editor_stylesheets()Retrieves any registered editor stylesheet URLs.
- get_locale_stylesheet_uri()Retrieves the localized stylesheet URI.
- get_theme_file_path()Retrieves the path of a file in the theme.
- get_theme_file_uri()Retrieves the URL of a file in the theme.
Show all 20
- load_child_theme_textdomain()Loads the child theme's translated strings.
- locate_block_template()Finds a block template with equal or higher specificity than a given PHP template file.
- resolve_block_template()Returns the correct 'wp_template' to render for the request template type.
- validate_current_theme()Checks that the active theme has the required files.
- wp_generate_block_templates_export_file()Creates an export of the current templates and template parts from the site editor at the specified path in a ZIP file.
- wp_set_template_globals()Set up the globals used for template loading.
- wp_templating_constants()Defines templating-related WordPress constants.
- wp_theme_has_theme_json()Checks whether a theme or its parent has a theme.json file.
Source code
function get_stylesheet_directory() { $stylesheet = get_stylesheet(); $theme_root = get_theme_root( $stylesheet ); $stylesheet_dir = "$theme_root/$stylesheet"; /** * Filters the stylesheet directory path for the active theme. * * @since 1.5.0 * * @param string $stylesheet_dir Absolute path to the active theme. * @param string $stylesheet Directory name of the active theme. * @param string $theme_root Absolute path to themes directory. */ return apply_filters( 'stylesheet_directory', $stylesheet_dir, $stylesheet, $theme_root );}Changelog
Introduced in 1.5.0. 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 6.7.7 tag, from
src/wp-includes/theme.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.