register_new_user( string $user_login, string $user_email ): int|WP_Error

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$user_loginstring

User's username for logging in

$user_emailstring

User's email address to send password and add

Return value

int|WP_Error

Either user's ID or error on failure.

Performance profile

How much work a call to register_new_user() 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

Reaches the database via get_user_by().

Scaling

Constant

No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.

Instructions

51–134

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 195.

Plugin surface

5 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'user_registration_email', 'illegal_user_logins', 'register_post' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by

0

Nothing in core calls this; the cost is only what you spend yourself.

What it touches

• hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()called directly
• optionoption read or writeget_option()called directly
• querycontent queryget_user_by()one call below register_new_user()
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_get()one call below register_new_user()
• serializeserialisationmaybe_unserialize()one call below register_new_user()

Further down the call graph this can also reach transient. That is the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.

What one call costs · 120 distinct outcomes

One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost register_new_user() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

Hooks and filters fired · 5

5 hooks fire while register_new_user() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   apply_filters( user_registration_email )filterline 3560 (+11 into the body)

   Filters the email address of a user being registered.

2. 2
   apply_filters( illegal_user_logins )filterline 3572 (+23 into the body)

   Filters the list of disallowed usernames.

3. 3
   do_action( register_post )actionline 3606 (+57 into the body)

   Fires when submitting registration form data, before the user is created.

4. 4
   apply_filters( registration_errors )filterline 3624 (+75 into the body)

   Filters the errors encountered when a new user is being registered.

5. 5
   do_action( register_new_user )actionline 3660 (+111 into the body)

   Fires after a new user registration has been recorded.

Uses · 19

• sanitize_user()Sanitizes a username, stripping out unsafe characters.
• apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
• __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
• validate_username()Checks whether a username is valid.
• username_exists()Determines whether the given username exists.
• is_email()Verifies that an email is valid.
• email_exists()Determines whether the given email exists.
• esc_url()Checks and cleans a URL.
• wp_login_url()Retrieves the login URL.
• do_action()Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.
• wp_generate_password()Generates a random password drawn from the defined set of characters.
• wp_create_user()Provides a simpler way of inserting a user into the database.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

3549function register_new_user( $user_login, $user_email ) {3550	$errors = new WP_Error();3551 3552	$sanitized_user_login = sanitize_user( $user_login );3553	/**3554	 * Filters the email address of a user being registered.3555	 *3556	 * @since 2.1.03557	 *3558	 * @param string $user_email The email address of the new user.3559	 */3560	$user_email = apply_filters( 'user_registration_email', $user_email );3561 3562	// Check the username.3563	if ( '' === $sanitized_user_login ) {3564		$errors->add( 'empty_username', __( '<strong>Error:</strong> Please enter a username.' ) );3565	} elseif ( ! validate_username( $user_login ) ) {3566		$errors->add( 'invalid_username', __( '<strong>Error:</strong> This username is invalid because it uses illegal characters. Please enter a valid username.' ) );3567		$sanitized_user_login = '';3568	} elseif ( username_exists( $sanitized_user_login ) ) {3569		$errors->add( 'username_exists', __( '<strong>Error:</strong> This username is already registered. Please choose another one.' ) );3570	} else {3571		/** This filter is documented in wp-includes/user.php */3572		$illegal_user_logins = (array) apply_filters( 'illegal_user_logins', array() );3573		if ( in_array( strtolower( $sanitized_user_login ), array_map( 'strtolower', $illegal_user_logins ), true ) ) {3574			$errors->add( 'invalid_username', __( '<strong>Error:</strong> Sorry, that username is not allowed.' ) );3575		}3576	}3577 3578	// Check the email address.3579	if ( '' === $user_email ) {3580		$errors->add( 'empty_email', __( '<strong>Error:</strong> Please type your email address.' ) );3581	} elseif ( ! is_email( $user_email ) ) {3582		$errors->add( 'invalid_email', __( '<strong>Error:</strong> The email address is not correct.' ) );3583		$user_email = '';3584	} elseif ( email_exists( $user_email ) ) {3585		$errors->add(3586			'email_exists',3587			sprintf(3588				/* translators: %s: Link to the login page. */3589				__( '<strong>Error:</strong> This email address is already registered. <a href="%s">Log in</a> with this address or choose another one.' ),3590				esc_url( wp_login_url() )3591			)3592		);3593	}3594 3595	/**3596	 * Fires when submitting registration form data, before the user is created.3597	 *3598	 * @since 2.1.03599	 *3600	 * @param string   $sanitized_user_login The submitted username after being sanitized.3601	 * @param string   $user_email           The submitted email.3602	 * @param WP_Error $errors               Contains any errors with submitted username and email,3603	 *                                       e.g., an empty field, an invalid username or email,3604	 *                                       or an existing username or email.3605	 */3606	do_action( 'register_post', $sanitized_user_login, $user_email, $errors );3607 3608	/**3609	 * Filters the errors encountered when a new user is being registered.3610	 *3611	 * The filtered WP_Error object may, for example, contain errors for an invalid3612	 * or existing username or email address. A WP_Error object should always be returned,3613	 * but may or may not contain errors.3614	 *3615	 * If any errors are present in $errors, this will abort the user's registration.3616	 *3617	 * @since 2.1.03618	 *3619	 * @param WP_Error $errors               A WP_Error object containing any errors encountered3620	 *                                       during registration.3621	 * @param string   $sanitized_user_login User's username after it has been sanitized.3622	 * @param string   $user_email           User's email.3623	 */3624	$errors = apply_filters( 'registration_errors', $errors, $sanitized_user_login, $user_email );3625 3626	if ( $errors->has_errors() ) {3627		return $errors;3628	}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.5.0. 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 7.1.0 tag, from src/wp-includes/user.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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