home_url( string $path = '', string|null $scheme = null ): string

Description

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$pathstringoptional

Path relative to the home URL. Default empty.Default: ''

$schemestring|nulloptional

Scheme to give the home URL context. Accepts 'http', 'https', 'relative', 'rest', or null. Default null.Default: null

Return value

string

Home URL link with optional path appended.

Code examples

Every example is editable and runs in a real WordPress booted in your browser by WordPress Playground. Press Run, then edit the code: clicking away re-runs it. Nothing is sent anywhere until you do.

$shop_link = home_url( '/shop/' );

echo esc_html( $shop_link );

$schemes = array( 'http', 'https', 'relative', 'rest', null );

foreach ( $schemes as $scheme ) {
	$label = null === $scheme ? 'null (default)' : $scheme;
	printf(
		'%s => %s<br>',
		esc_html( $label ),
		esc_html( home_url( '/sample-page/', $scheme ) )
	);
}

Common problems and fixes · 4

• Why does home_url() return a different domain than I expected?
• Why is my URL http:// even though the page is loaded over https?
• Do I need to escape the output of home_url()?
• What's the difference between home_url() and site_url()?

Alternatives and related functions

get_home_url

When you need a URL for a specific site on a multisite network rather than the current one, since home_url() always passes null as the blog ID.

site_url

When the URL needs to point at WordPress core files (login, admin-ajax.php) rather than the front end visitors see.

admin_url

When building a link into wp-admin, since that appends the /wp-admin/ path onto the site URL for you.

content_url

When linking to a file inside wp-content rather than to a front-end page or post.

Performance profile

How much work a call to home_url() 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

8

Executed per call on PHP 8.5. The body compiles to 8.

Plugin surface

None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by

50

50 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()one call below home_url()
• hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()one call below home_url()

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

Uses · 1

• get_home_url()Retrieves the URL for a given site where the front end is accessible.

Used by · 50

• Custom_Background::admin_page()Displays the custom background page.
• Custom_Image_Header::step_1()Displays first step of custom header image page.
• WP::parse_request()Parses the request to find the correct WordPress query.
• WP_Admin_Bar::initialize()Initializes the admin bar.
• WP_Automatic_Updater::has_fatal_error()Performs a loopback request to check for potential fatal errors.
• WP_Automatic_Updater::send_debug_email()Prepares and sends an email of a full log of background update results, useful for debugging and geekery.
• WP_Automatic_Updater::send_email()Sends an email upon the completion or failure of a background core update.
• WP_Automatic_Updater::send_plugin_theme_email()Sends an email upon the completion or failure of a plugin or theme background update.
• WP_Community_Events::get_events()Gets data about events near a particular location.
• WP_Customize_Manager::customize_pane_settings()Prints JavaScript settings for parent window.
• WP_Customize_Manager::customize_preview_settings()Prints JavaScript settings for preview frame.
• WP_Customize_Manager::get_allowed_urls()Gets URLs allowed to be previewed.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

3441function home_url( $path = '', $scheme = null ) {3442	return get_home_url( null, $path, $scheme );3443}

Changelog

Introduced in 3.0.0. 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 7.0.4 tag, from src/wp-includes/link-template.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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