wp_authenticate_cookie( WP_User|WP_Error|null $user, string $username, string $password ): WP_User|WP_Error
- Since
- 2.8.0
- Source
wp-includes/user.php:326
Compatibility
- WordPress
- since 2.8.0
- 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
$userWP_User|WP_Error|null- WP_User or WP_Error object from a previous callback. Default null.
$usernamestring- Username. If not empty, cancels the cookie authentication.
$passwordstring- Password. If not empty, cancels the cookie authentication.
Return value
WP_User|WP_Error- WP_User on success, WP_Error on failure.
Performance profile
How much work a call to wp_authenticate_cookie() does, and what it touches: the algorithmic scaling, the Zend instruction count per call across PHP versions, the hooks it hands control to, and the core code that calls it. Measured from the compiled opcodes, not a stopwatch, so every number is identical on any machine running the same PHP version, and every function in core is ranked by cost.
- Cost class
- Heavy
- Scaling
- Constant
- Instructions
- 7–28
- Plugin surface
- None
- Called by
- 0
Reaches the database via get_user_by().
No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.
Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 35.
Nothing here hands control to plugin code.
Nothing in core calls this; the cost is only what you spend yourself.
What it touches
- hookthird-party callbacks
do_action()one call below wp_authenticate_cookie() - querycontent query
get_user_by()one call below wp_authenticate_cookie()
Further down the call graph this can also reach option, cache, serialize and transient. Those are the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.
What one call costs · 3 distinct outcomes
One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost wp_authenticate_cookie() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
| always | 7–11 | none |
!($user instanceof) && empty($username) && empty($password) | 18–21 | wp_validate_auth_cookie() |
!($user instanceof) && empty($username) && empty($password) && !empty($auth_cookie) | 27–28 | wp_validate_auth_cookie(), __() |
Across PHP versions
Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 35 instructions, 7–28 executed per call, 6 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 · 4
- wp_validate_auth_cookie()Validates authentication cookie.
- __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
- WP_User::__construct()Constructor.
- WP_Error::__construct()Initializes the error.
Source code
function wp_authenticate_cookie( $user, $username, #[\SensitiveParameter] $password) { global $auth_secure_cookie; if ( $user instanceof WP_User ) { return $user; } if ( empty( $username ) && empty( $password ) ) { $user_id = wp_validate_auth_cookie(); if ( $user_id ) { return new WP_User( $user_id ); } if ( $auth_secure_cookie ) { $auth_cookie = SECURE_AUTH_COOKIE; } else { $auth_cookie = AUTH_COOKIE; } if ( ! empty( $_COOKIE[ $auth_cookie ] ) ) { return new WP_Error( 'expired_session', __( 'Please log in again.' ) ); } // If the cookie is not set, be silent. } return $user;}Changelog
Introduced in 2.8.0. 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 6.8.8 tag, from
src/wp-includes/user.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.