unregister_post_type( string $post_type ): true|WP_Error
- Since
- 4.5.0
- Source
wp-includes/post.php:1925
Description
Cannot be used to unregister built-in post types.
Compatibility
- WordPress
- since 4.5.0
- 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
$post_typestring- Post type to unregister.
Return value
true|WP_Error- True on success, WP_Error on failure or if the post type doesn't exist.
Performance profile
How much work a call to unregister_post_type() 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
- 14–28
- Plugin surface
- 1 hook
- Called by
- 0
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 44.
Third-party callbacks on 'unregistered_post_type' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.
Nothing in core calls this; the cost is only what you spend yourself.
What it touches
- hookthird-party callbacks
do_action()called directly
Further down the call graph this can also reach query, option, cache, serialize and transient. Those are the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.
What one call costs · 3 distinct outcomes
One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost unregister_post_type() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
!post_type_exists() | 14 | post_type_exists(), __() |
post_type_exists() && $post_type_object | 20 | post_type_exists(), get_post_type_object(), __() |
post_type_exists() && !$post_type_object | 28 | post_type_exists(), get_post_type_object(), ->remove_supports(), ->remove_rewrite_rules(), ->unregister_meta_boxes(), ->remove_hooks(), ->unregister_taxonomies(), do_action() |
Across PHP versions
Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 44 instructions, 14–28 executed per call, 2 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 unregister_post_type() runs, in this order:
- do_action( unregistered_post_type )actionline 1954 (+29 into the body)
Fires after a post type was unregistered.
Uses · 5
- post_type_exists()Determines whether a post type is registered.
- __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
- get_post_type_object()Retrieves a post type object by name.
- do_action()Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.
- WP_Error::__construct()Initializes the error.
Source code
function unregister_post_type( $post_type ) { global $wp_post_types; if ( ! post_type_exists( $post_type ) ) { return new WP_Error( 'invalid_post_type', __( 'Invalid post type.' ) ); } $post_type_object = get_post_type_object( $post_type ); // Do not allow unregistering internal post types. if ( $post_type_object->_builtin ) { return new WP_Error( 'invalid_post_type', __( 'Unregistering a built-in post type is not allowed' ) ); } $post_type_object->remove_supports(); $post_type_object->remove_rewrite_rules(); $post_type_object->unregister_meta_boxes(); $post_type_object->remove_hooks(); $post_type_object->unregister_taxonomies(); unset( $wp_post_types[ $post_type ] ); /** * Fires after a post type was unregistered. * * @since 4.5.0 * * @param string $post_type Post type key. */ do_action( 'unregistered_post_type', $post_type ); return true;}Changelog
Introduced in 4.5.0. 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 7.1.0 tag, from
src/wp-includes/post.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.