wp_ajax_save_attachment()

Compatibility

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

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_ajax_save_attachment() 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

Reaches the database via get_post().

Scaling

Scales with input

The body loops, so the work grows with how much data it finds.

Instructions

62–132

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 164.

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

• querycontent queryget_post()called directly
• hookthird-party callbacksdo_action()one call below wp_ajax_save_attachment()

Further down the call graph this can also reach option, serialize, cache 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 · 18 distinct outcomes

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

This body has more branch combinations than are worth enumerating, so the table covers the outcomes found first rather than every one that exists.

Uses · 18

• wp_send_json_error()Sends a JSON response back to an Ajax request, indicating failure.
• absint()Converts a value to non-negative integer.
• check_ajax_referer()Verifies the Ajax request to prevent processing requests external of the blog.
• current_user_can()Returns whether the current user has the specified capability.
• get_post()Retrieves post data given a post ID or post object.
• wp_unslash()Removes slashes from a string or recursively removes slashes from strings within an array.
• get_post_meta()Retrieves a post meta field for the given post ID.
• wp_strip_all_tags()Properly strips all HTML tags including 'script' and 'style'.
• update_post_meta()Updates a post meta field based on the given post ID.
• wp_slash()Adds slashes to a string or recursively adds slashes to strings within an array.
• wp_attachment_is()Verifies an attachment is of a given type.
• wp_get_attachment_metadata()Retrieves attachment metadata for attachment ID.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

3140function wp_ajax_save_attachment() {3141	if ( ! isset( $_REQUEST['id'] ) || ! isset( $_REQUEST['changes'] ) ) {3142		wp_send_json_error();3143	}3144 3145	$id = absint( $_REQUEST['id'] );3146	if ( ! $id ) {3147		wp_send_json_error();3148	}3149 3150	check_ajax_referer( 'update-post_' . $id, 'nonce' );3151 3152	if ( ! current_user_can( 'edit_post', $id ) ) {3153		wp_send_json_error();3154	}3155 3156	$changes = $_REQUEST['changes'];3157	$post    = get_post( $id, ARRAY_A );3158	if ( ! $post ) {3159		wp_send_json_error();3160	}3161 3162	if ( 'attachment' !== $post['post_type'] ) {3163		wp_send_json_error();3164	}3165 3166	if ( isset( $changes['parent'] ) ) {3167		$post['post_parent'] = $changes['parent'];3168	}3169 3170	if ( isset( $changes['title'] ) ) {3171		$post['post_title'] = $changes['title'];3172	}3173 3174	if ( isset( $changes['caption'] ) ) {3175		$post['post_excerpt'] = $changes['caption'];3176	}3177 3178	if ( isset( $changes['description'] ) ) {3179		$post['post_content'] = $changes['description'];3180	}3181 3182	if ( MEDIA_TRASH && isset( $changes['status'] ) ) {3183		$post['post_status'] = $changes['status'];3184	}3185 3186	if ( isset( $changes['alt'] ) ) {3187		$alt = wp_unslash( $changes['alt'] );3188		if ( get_post_meta( $id, '_wp_attachment_image_alt', true ) !== $alt ) {3189			$alt = wp_strip_all_tags( $alt, true );3190			update_post_meta( $id, '_wp_attachment_image_alt', wp_slash( $alt ) );3191		}3192	}3193 3194	if ( wp_attachment_is( 'audio', $post['ID'] ) ) {3195		$changed  = false;3196		$id3_data = wp_get_attachment_metadata( $post['ID'] );3197 3198		if ( ! is_array( $id3_data ) ) {3199			$changed  = true;3200			$id3_data = array();3201		}3202 3203		foreach ( wp_get_attachment_id3_keys( (object) $post, 'edit' ) as $key => $label ) {3204			if ( isset( $changes[ $key ] ) ) {3205				$changed          = true;3206				$id3_data[ $key ] = sanitize_text_field( wp_unslash( $changes[ $key ] ) );3207			}3208		}3209 3210		if ( $changed ) {3211			wp_update_attachment_metadata( $id, $id3_data );3212		}3213	}3214 3215	if ( MEDIA_TRASH && isset( $changes['status'] ) && 'trash' === $changes['status'] ) {3216		wp_delete_post( $id );3217	} else {3218		wp_update_post( $post );3219	}

Changelog

Introduced in 3.5.0. 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-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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