update_attached_file( int $attachment_id, string $file ): int|bool
- Since
- 2.1.0
- Source
wp-includes/post.php:885
Description
Used to update the file path of the attachment, which uses post meta name _wp_attached_file to store the path of the attachment.
Compatibility
- WordPress
- since 2.1.0
- 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
$attachment_idint- Attachment ID.
$filestring- File path for the attachment.
Return value
int|bool- Meta ID if the
_wp_attached_filekey didn't exist for the attachment.
True on successful update, false on failure or if the$filevalue passed to the function is the same as the one that is already in the database.
Performance profile
How much work a call to update_attached_file() 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
- Scaling
- Constant
- Instructions
- 7–23
- Plugin surface
- 1 hook
- Called by
- 5
Reaches the database via get_post().
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 29.
Third-party callbacks on 'update_attached_file' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.
5 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.
What it touches
- querycontent query
get_post()called directly - hookthird-party callbacks
apply_filters()called directly
Further down the call graph this can also reach serialize, cache, option 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 update_attached_file() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
!get_post() | 7 | get_post() |
get_post() | 22 | get_post(), apply_filters(), _wp_relative_upload_path(), delete_post_meta() |
get_post() | 23 | get_post(), apply_filters(), _wp_relative_upload_path(), update_post_meta() |
Across PHP versions
Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 29 instructions, 7–23 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 update_attached_file() runs, in this order:
- apply_filters( update_attached_file )filterline 898 (+13 into the body)
Filters the path to the attached file to update.
Uses · 5
- get_post()Retrieves post data given a post ID or post object.
- apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
- _wp_relative_upload_path()Returns relative path to an uploaded file.
- update_post_meta()Updates a post meta field based on the given post ID.
- delete_post_meta()Deletes a post meta field for the given post ID.
Used by · 5
- _wp_image_meta_replace_original()Updates the attached file and image meta data when the original image was edited.
- upgrade_160()Execute changes made in WordPress 2.0.
- wp_insert_post()Inserts or updates a post in the database.
- wp_restore_image()Restores the metadata for a given attachment.
- wp_save_image()Saves image to post, along with enqueued changes in `$_REQUEST['history']`.
Source code
function update_attached_file( $attachment_id, $file ) { if ( ! get_post( $attachment_id ) ) { return false; } /** * Filters the path to the attached file to update. * * @since 2.1.0 * * @param string $file Path to the attached file to update. * @param int $attachment_id Attachment ID. */ $file = apply_filters( 'update_attached_file', $file, $attachment_id ); $file = _wp_relative_upload_path( $file ); if ( $file ) { return update_post_meta( $attachment_id, '_wp_attached_file', $file ); } else { return delete_post_meta( $attachment_id, '_wp_attached_file' ); }}Changelog
Introduced in 2.1.0. One change between 6.7.7 and 7.1.0.
Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.
bool to int|bool.verified against sourceAbout this page
- Parsed data
- Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.0.4 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
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