status_header( int $code, string $description = '' )
- Since
- 2.0.0, 4.4.0
- Source
wp-includes/functions.php:1458
Compatibility
- WordPress
- since 4.4.0
- 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
$codeint- HTTP status code.
$descriptionstringoptional- A custom description for the HTTP status.
Defaults to the result of get_status_header_desc() for the given code.Default:''
Performance profile
How much work a call to status_header() does, and what it touches: the algorithmic scaling, the Zend instruction count per call across PHP versions, the hooks it hands control to, and the core code that calls it. Measured from the compiled opcodes, not a stopwatch, so every number is identical on any machine running the same PHP version, and every function in core is ranked by cost.
- Cost class
- Trivial
- Scaling
- Constant
- Instructions
- 6–38
- Plugin surface
- 1 hook
- Called by
- 17
Touches nothing outside its own arguments.
No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.
Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 39.
Third-party callbacks on 'status_header' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.
17 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.
What it touches
- hookthird-party callbacks
apply_filters()called directly
What one call costs · 10 distinct outcomes
One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost status_header() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
empty($description) | 6 | none |
empty($description) | 10 | get_status_header_desc() |
!empty($description) && !function_exists() && headers_sent() | 21 | wp_get_server_protocol(), function_exists(), headers_sent() |
!empty($description) && !function_exists() && headers_sent() | 25 | get_status_header_desc(), wp_get_server_protocol(), function_exists(), headers_sent() |
!empty($description) && !function_exists() && !headers_sent() | 26 | wp_get_server_protocol(), function_exists(), headers_sent(), header() |
!empty($description) && function_exists() && headers_sent() | 29 | wp_get_server_protocol(), function_exists(), apply_filters(), headers_sent() |
!empty($description) && !function_exists() && !headers_sent() | 30 | get_status_header_desc(), wp_get_server_protocol(), function_exists(), headers_sent(), header() |
!empty($description) && function_exists() && headers_sent() | 33 | get_status_header_desc(), wp_get_server_protocol(), function_exists(), apply_filters(), headers_sent() |
!empty($description) && function_exists() && !headers_sent() | 34 | wp_get_server_protocol(), function_exists(), apply_filters(), headers_sent(), header() |
!empty($description) && function_exists() && !headers_sent() | 38 | get_status_header_desc(), wp_get_server_protocol(), function_exists(), apply_filters(), headers_sent(), header() |
Across PHP versions
Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 39 instructions, 6–38 executed per call, 4 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 status_header() runs, in this order:
Uses · 3
- get_status_header_desc()Retrieves the description for the HTTP status.
- wp_get_server_protocol()Returns the HTTP protocol sent by the server.
- apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
Used by · 17
- IXR_Server::serve()
- WP::handle_404()Set the Headers for 404, if nothing is found for requested URL.
- WP::send_headers()Sends additional HTTP headers for caching, content type, etc.
- WP_Customize_Nav_Menus::ajax_insert_auto_draft_post()Ajax handler for adding a new auto-draft post.
- WP_Customize_Selective_Refresh::handle_render_partials_request()Handles the Ajax request to return the rendered partials for the requested placements.
- WP_REST_Server::set_status()Sends an HTTP status code.
- WP_Sitemaps::render_sitemaps()Renders sitemap templates based on rewrite rules.
- _ajax_wp_die_handler()Kills WordPress execution and displays Ajax response with an error message.
- _default_wp_die_handler()Kills WordPress execution and displays HTML page with an error message.
- _json_wp_die_handler()Kills WordPress execution and displays JSON response with an error message.
- _jsonp_wp_die_handler()Kills WordPress execution and displays JSONP response with an error message.
- _oembed_rest_pre_serve_request()Hooks into the REST API output to print XML instead of JSON.
Show all 17
- _xml_wp_die_handler()Kills WordPress execution and displays XML response with an error message.
- send_origin_headers()Sends Access-Control-Allow-Origin and related headers if the current request is from an allowed origin.
- wp_redirect()Redirects to another page.
- wp_send_json()Sends a JSON response back to an Ajax request.
- wp_xmlrpc_server::error()Sends error response to client.
Source code
function status_header( $code, $description = '' ) { if ( ! $description ) { $description = get_status_header_desc( $code ); } if ( empty( $description ) ) { return; } $protocol = wp_get_server_protocol(); $status_header = "$protocol $code $description"; if ( function_exists( 'apply_filters' ) ) { /** * Filters an HTTP status header. * * @since 2.2.0 * * @param string $status_header HTTP status header. * @param int $code HTTP status code. * @param string $description Description for the status code. * @param string $protocol Server protocol. */ $status_header = apply_filters( 'status_header', $status_header, $code, $description, $protocol ); } if ( ! headers_sent() ) { header( $status_header, true, $code ); }}Changelog
Introduced in 2.0.0. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 7.1.0.
Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.
$description parameter.from the docblockAbout this page
- Parsed data
- Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.0.4 tag, from
src/wp-includes/functions.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.