submit_button( string $text = '', string $type = 'primary', string $name = 'submit', bool $wrap = true, array|string $other_attributes = '' )

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$textstringoptional

The text of the button. Defaults to 'Save Changes'.Default: ''

$typestringoptional

The type and CSS class(es) of the button. Core values include 'primary', 'small', and 'large'. Default 'primary'.Default: 'primary'

$namestringoptional

The HTML name of the submit button. If no id attribute is given in the $other_attributes parameter, $name will be used as the button's id. Default 'submit'.Default: 'submit'

$wrapbooloptional

True if the output button should be wrapped in a paragraph tag, false otherwise. Default true.Default: true

$other_attributesarray|stringoptional

Other attributes that should be output with the button, mapping attributes to their values, e.g. array( 'id' => 'search-submit' ).
These key/value attribute pairs will be output as attribute="value", where attribute is the key. Attributes can also be provided as a string, e.g. id="search-submit", though the array format is generally preferred.
Default empty string.Default: ''

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.

submit_button();

submit_button( 'Publish Draft', 'secondary', 'publish-draft', false );
echo ' ';
echo esc_html( 'unwrapped button above has no surrounding <p>' );

echo '<p>';
submit_button( 'Save Changes', 'primary', 'submit', false );
echo ' ';
submit_button(
	'Reset Filters',
	'secondary small',
	'reset-filters',
	false,
	array(
		'id'    => 'meta-box-reset',
		'style' => 'margin-left:8px;',
	)
);
echo '</p>';

Common problems and fixes · 3

• Why does assigning submit_button() to a variable give me null?
• Why is my button missing its surrounding <p> tag?
• Why do two buttons on the same page end up with the same id and break my JavaScript selector?

Alternatives and related functions

get_submit_button

When you need the button markup as a string, for example to filter it or splice it into a larger HTML buffer instead of echoing it right away.

Performance profile

How much work a call to submit_button() 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

Executed per call on PHP 8.5. The body compiles to 14.

Plugin surface

None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by

43

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

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 submit_button() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

Uses · 1

• get_submit_button()Returns a submit button, with provided text and appropriate class.

Used by · 43

• Custom_Background::admin_page()Displays the custom background page.
• Custom_Image_Header::step_1()Displays first step of custom header image page.
• Custom_Image_Header::step_2()Displays second step of custom header image page.
• WP_Comments_List_Table::extra_tablenav()
• WP_Links_List_Table::extra_tablenav()
• WP_List_Table::bulk_actions()Displays the bulk actions dropdown.
• WP_List_Table::search_box()Displays the search box.
• WP_MS_Sites_List_Table::extra_tablenav()Displays extra controls between bulk actions and pagination.
• WP_Media_List_Table::extra_tablenav()
• WP_Plugins_List_Table::extra_tablenav()
• WP_Plugins_List_Table::search_box()Displays the search box.
• WP_Posts_List_Table::extra_tablenav()

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

2559function submit_button( $text = '', $type = 'primary', $name = 'submit', $wrap = true, $other_attributes = '' ) {2560	echo get_submit_button( $text, $type, $name, $wrap, $other_attributes );2561}

Changelog

Introduced in 3.1.0. 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 6.7.7 tag, from src/wp-admin/includes/template.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

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