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update_comment_meta( int $comment_id, string $meta_key, mixed $meta_value, mixed $prev_value = '' ): int|bool

Since
2.9.0
Source
wp-includes/comment.php:624
Updates comment meta field based on comment ID.

Description

Use the $prev_value parameter to differentiate between meta fields with the same key and comment ID.

If the meta field for the comment does not exist, it will be added.

For historical reasons both the meta key and the meta value are expected to be "slashed" (slashes escaped) on input.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 2.9.0
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

$comment_idint
Comment ID.
$meta_keystring
Metadata key.
$meta_valuemixed
Metadata value. Must be serializable if non-scalar.
$prev_valuemixedoptional
Previous value to check before updating.
If specified, only update existing metadata entries with this value. Otherwise, update all entries. Default empty string.Default: ''

Return value

int|bool
Meta ID if the key didn't exist, true on successful update, false on failure or if the value 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_comment_meta() 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
Light

Only touches the object cache, via wp_cache_delete().

Scaling
Constant

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

Instructions
12

Executed per call on PHP 8.5. The body compiles to 12.

Plugin surface
None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by
1

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

What it touches

  • hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()one call below update_comment_meta()
  • serializeserialisationmaybe_serialize()one call below update_comment_meta()
  • cacheobject cachewp_cache_delete()one call below update_comment_meta()

Further down the call graph this can also reach query, 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 · 1 distinct outcome

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

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
always12update_metadata()

Across PHP versions

Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 12 instructions, 12 executed per call, 0 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.

Uses · 1

  • update_metadata()Updates metadata for the specified object. If no value already exists for the specified object ID and metadata key, the metadata will be added.

Used by · 1

Source code

function update_comment_meta( $comment_id, $meta_key, $meta_value, $prev_value = '' ) {	return update_metadata( 'comment', $comment_id, $meta_key, $meta_value, $prev_value );}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.9.0. 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/comment.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
Corrections
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