links_add_target( string $content, string $target = '_blank', string[] $tags = array('a') ): string
- Since
- 2.7.0
- Source
wp-includes/formatting.php:5481
Description
By default, this function only applies to <a> tags.
However, this can be modified via the $tags parameter.
NOTE: Any current target attribute will be stripped and replaced.
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.
Parameters
$contentstring- String to search for links in.
$targetstringoptional- The target to add to the links.Default:
'_blank' $tagsstring[]optional- An array of tags to apply to.Default:
array('a')
Return value
string- The processed content.
Performance profile
How much work a call to links_add_target() 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
- Trivial
- Scaling
- Constant
- Instructions
- 17
- Plugin surface
- None
- Called by
- 1
Touches nothing outside its own arguments.
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.
Nothing here hands control to plugin code.
1 place in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.
What it touches
- regexregular expression over the whole input
preg_replace_callback()called directly
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 links_add_target() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
| always | 17 | preg_replace_callback() |
Across PHP versions
| PHP | Compiled | Executed | Branches | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.6-dev | 17 | 17 | 0 | |
| 8.5 | 17 | 17 | 0 | |
| 8.4 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 3 fewer instructions than PHP 8.3 |
| 8.3 | 20 | 20 | 0 | |
| 8.2 | 20 | 20 | 0 | |
| 8.1 | 20 | 20 | 0 | |
| 7.4 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
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.
Used by · 1
- install_plugin_information()Displays plugin information in dialog box form.
Source code
function links_add_target( $content, $target = '_blank', $tags = array( 'a' ) ) { global $_links_add_target; $_links_add_target = $target; $tags = implode( '|', (array) $tags ); return preg_replace_callback( "!<($tags)((\s[^>]*)?)>!i", '_links_add_target', $content );}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 6.9.7 tag, from
src/wp-includes/formatting.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.