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sanitize_html_class( string $classname, string $fallback = '' ): string

Since
2.8.0
Source
wp-includes/formatting.php:2438
Sanitizes an HTML classname to ensure it only contains valid characters.

Description

Strips the string down to A-Z,a-z,0-9,_,-. If this results in an empty string then it will return the alternative value supplied.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 2.8.0
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

$classnamestring
The classname to be sanitized.
$fallbackstringoptional
The value to return if the sanitization ends up as an empty string.
Default empty string.Default: ''

Return value

string
The sanitized value.

Performance profile

How much work a call to sanitize_html_class() 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

Touches nothing outside its own arguments.

Scaling
Constant

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

Instructions
14–17

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 21.

Plugin surface
1 hook

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

Called by
17

17 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.

What it touches

  • hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()called directly

What one call costs · 2 distinct outcomes

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

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
$sanitized === ""14sanitize_html_class()
always16–17apply_filters()

Across PHP versions

PHPCompiledExecutedBranchesNotes
8.6-dev2114–172
8.52114–172
8.42114–1727 fewer instructions than PHP 8.3
8.32821–242
8.22821–242
8.12821–242
7.42821–242

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 sanitize_html_class() runs, in this order:

  1. apply_filters( sanitize_html_class )filterline 2457 (+19 into the body)

    Filters a sanitized HTML class string.

Uses · 2

Used by · 17

Show all 17

Source code

function sanitize_html_class( $classname, $fallback = '' ) {	// Strip out any percent-encoded characters.	$sanitized = preg_replace( '|%[a-fA-F0-9][a-fA-F0-9]|', '', $classname ); 	// Limit to A-Z, a-z, 0-9, '_', '-'.	$sanitized = preg_replace( '/[^A-Za-z0-9_-]/', '', $sanitized ); 	if ( '' === $sanitized && $fallback ) {		return sanitize_html_class( $fallback );	}	/**	 * Filters a sanitized HTML class string.	 *	 * @since 2.8.0	 *	 * @param string $sanitized The sanitized HTML class.	 * @param string $classname HTML class before sanitization.	 * @param string $fallback  The fallback string.	 */	return apply_filters( 'sanitize_html_class', $sanitized, $classname, $fallback );}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.8.0. 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/formatting.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
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