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WordPress

update_term_meta( int $term_id, string $meta_key, mixed $meta_value, mixed $prev_value = '' ): int|bool|WP_Error

Since
4.4.0
Source
wp-includes/taxonomy.php:1471
Updates term metadata.

Description

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

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

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

$term_idint
Term 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.Default: ''

Return value

int|bool|WP_Error
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.
WP_Error when term_id is ambiguous between taxonomies.

Performance profile

How much work a call to update_term_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
Moderate

Reads stored settings via get_option(), cached per request but not free on a cold cache.

Scaling
Constant

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

Instructions
16–17

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 25.

Plugin surface
None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by
0

Nothing in core calls this; the cost is only what you spend yourself.

What it touches

  • optionoption read or writeget_option()one call below update_term_meta()
  • hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()one call below update_term_meta()
  • serializeserialisationmaybe_serialize()one call below update_term_meta()
  • cacheobject cachewp_cache_delete()one call below update_term_meta()

Further down the call graph this can also reach query 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 · 2 distinct outcomes

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

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
!wp_term_is_shared()16wp_term_is_shared(), update_metadata()
wp_term_is_shared()17wp_term_is_shared(), __()

Across PHP versions

Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 25 instructions, 16–17 executed per call, 1 branch. 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 · 4

  • wp_term_is_shared()Determines whether a term is shared between multiple taxonomies.
  • __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
  • 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.
  • WP_Error::__construct()Initializes the error.

Source code

View on Trac View on GitHub 

function update_term_meta( $term_id, $meta_key, $meta_value, $prev_value = '' ) {	if ( wp_term_is_shared( $term_id ) ) {		return new WP_Error( 'ambiguous_term_id', __( 'Term meta cannot be added to terms that are shared between taxonomies.' ), $term_id );	} 	return update_metadata( 'term', $term_id, $meta_key, $meta_value, $prev_value );}

Changelog

Introduced in 4.4.0. 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 6.8.8 tag, from src/wp-includes/taxonomy.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
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