wp_delete_comment( int|WP_Comment $comment_id, bool $force_delete = false ): bool

Description

Compatibility

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|WP_Comment

Comment ID or WP_Comment object.

$force_deletebooloptional

Whether to bypass Trash and force deletion. Default false.Default: false

Return value

bool

True on success, false on failure.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_delete_comment() 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_col().

Scaling

Scales with input

The body loops, so the work grows with what you pass in.

Instructions

9–114

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 125.

Plugin surface

3 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'delete_comment', 'deleted_comment', 'wp_set_comment_status' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by

8

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

What it touches

• hookthird-party callbacksdo_action()called directly
• sqldatabase query->get_col()called directly
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_delete_multiple()one call below wp_delete_comment()

Further down the call graph this can also reach serialize, 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 · 14 distinct outcomes

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

Hooks and filters fired · 3

3 hooks fire while wp_delete_comment() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   do_action( delete_comment )actionline 1520 (+21 into the body)

   Fires immediately before a comment is deleted from the database.

2. 2
   do_action( deleted_comment )actionline 1548 (+49 into the body)

   Fires immediately after a comment is deleted from the database.

3. 3
   do_action( wp_set_comment_status )actionline 1558 (+59 into the body)

   Fires immediately after transitioning a comment's status from one to another in the database and removing the comment from the object cache, but prior to all status transition hooks.

Uses · 8

• get_comment()Retrieves comment data given a comment ID or comment object.
• wp_get_comment_status()Retrieves the status of a comment by comment ID.
• wp_trash_comment()Moves a comment to the Trash
• do_action()Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.
• clean_comment_cache()Removes a comment from the object cache.
• delete_metadata_by_mid()Deletes metadata by meta ID.
• wp_update_comment_count()Updates the comment count for post(s).
• wp_transition_comment_status()Calls hooks for when a comment status transition occurs.

Used by · 8

• WP_REST_Comments_Controller::delete_item()Deletes a comment.
• upgrade_430_fix_comments()Executes comments changes made in WordPress 4.3.0.
• wp_ajax_delete_comment()Handles deleting a comment via AJAX.
• wp_delete_attachment()Trashes or deletes an attachment.
• wp_delete_post()Trashes or deletes a post or page.
• wp_scheduled_delete()Permanently deletes comments or posts of any type that have held a status of 'trash' for the number of days defined in EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS.
• wp_trash_comment()Moves a comment to the Trash
• wp_xmlrpc_server::wp_deleteComment()Deletes a comment.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

1499function wp_delete_comment( $comment_id, $force_delete = false ) {1500	global $wpdb;1501 1502	$comment = get_comment( $comment_id );1503	if ( ! $comment ) {1504		return false;1505	}1506 1507	if ( ! $force_delete && EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS && ! in_array( wp_get_comment_status( $comment ), array( 'trash', 'spam' ), true ) ) {1508		return wp_trash_comment( $comment_id );1509	}1510 1511	/**1512	 * Fires immediately before a comment is deleted from the database.1513	 *1514	 * @since 1.2.01515	 * @since 4.9.0 Added the `$comment` parameter.1516	 *1517	 * @param string     $comment_id The comment ID as a numeric string.1518	 * @param WP_Comment $comment    The comment to be deleted.1519	 */1520	do_action( 'delete_comment', $comment->comment_ID, $comment );1521 1522	// Move children up a level.1523	$children = $wpdb->get_col( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT comment_ID FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_parent = %d", $comment->comment_ID ) );1524	if ( ! empty( $children ) ) {1525		$wpdb->update( $wpdb->comments, array( 'comment_parent' => $comment->comment_parent ), array( 'comment_parent' => $comment->comment_ID ) );1526		clean_comment_cache( $children );1527	}1528 1529	// Delete metadata.1530	$meta_ids = $wpdb->get_col( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT meta_id FROM $wpdb->commentmeta WHERE comment_id = %d", $comment->comment_ID ) );1531	foreach ( $meta_ids as $mid ) {1532		delete_metadata_by_mid( 'comment', $mid );1533	}1534 1535	if ( ! $wpdb->delete( $wpdb->comments, array( 'comment_ID' => $comment->comment_ID ) ) ) {1536		return false;1537	}1538 1539	/**1540	 * Fires immediately after a comment is deleted from the database.1541	 *1542	 * @since 2.9.01543	 * @since 4.9.0 Added the `$comment` parameter.1544	 *1545	 * @param string     $comment_id The comment ID as a numeric string.1546	 * @param WP_Comment $comment    The deleted comment.1547	 */1548	do_action( 'deleted_comment', $comment->comment_ID, $comment );1549 1550	$post_id = $comment->comment_post_ID;1551	if ( $post_id && '1' === $comment->comment_approved ) {1552		wp_update_comment_count( $post_id );1553	}1554 1555	clean_comment_cache( $comment->comment_ID );1556 1557	/** This action is documented in wp-includes/comment.php */1558	do_action( 'wp_set_comment_status', $comment->comment_ID, 'delete' );1559 1560	wp_transition_comment_status( 'delete', $comment->comment_approved, $comment );1561 1562	return true;1563}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.0.0. 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/comment.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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