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WordPress

wp_delete_nav_menu( int|string|WP_Term $menu ): bool|WP_Error

Since
3.0.0
Source
wp-includes/nav-menu.php:265
Deletes a navigation menu.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 3.0.0
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

$menuint|string|WP_Term
Menu ID, slug, name, or object.

Return value

bool|WP_Error
True on success, false or WP_Error object on failure.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_delete_nav_menu() 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_term().

Scaling
Scales with input

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

Instructions
7–47

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 59.

Plugin surface
1 hook

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

Called by
2

2 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
  • querycontent queryget_term()one call below wp_delete_nav_menu()
  • cacheobject cachewp_cache_get_last_changed()one call below wp_delete_nav_menu()
  • optionoption read or writeget_option()one call below wp_delete_nav_menu()

Further down the call graph this can also reach 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 · 4 distinct outcomes

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

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
always7wp_get_nav_menu_object()
always33–37wp_get_nav_menu_object(), get_objects_in_term(), wp_delete_term(), get_nav_menu_locations(), set_theme_mod()
is_wp_error()37–41wp_get_nav_menu_object(), get_objects_in_term(), wp_delete_term(), get_nav_menu_locations(), set_theme_mod(), is_wp_error()
!is_wp_error()43–47wp_get_nav_menu_object(), get_objects_in_term(), wp_delete_term(), get_nav_menu_locations(), set_theme_mod(), is_wp_error(), do_action()

Across PHP versions

Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 59 instructions, 7–47 executed per call, 9 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.

Hooks and filters fired · 1

One hook fires while wp_delete_nav_menu() runs, in this order:

  1. do_action( wp_delete_nav_menu )actionline 298 (+33 into the body)

    Fires after a navigation menu has been successfully deleted.

Uses · 8

Used by · 2

Source code

function wp_delete_nav_menu( $menu ) {	$menu = wp_get_nav_menu_object( $menu );	if ( ! $menu ) {		return false;	} 	$menu_objects = get_objects_in_term( $menu->term_id, 'nav_menu' );	if ( ! empty( $menu_objects ) ) {		foreach ( $menu_objects as $item ) {			wp_delete_post( $item );		}	} 	$result = wp_delete_term( $menu->term_id, 'nav_menu' ); 	// Remove this menu from any locations.	$locations = get_nav_menu_locations();	foreach ( $locations as $location => $menu_id ) {		if ( $menu_id === $menu->term_id ) {			$locations[ $location ] = 0;		}	}	set_theme_mod( 'nav_menu_locations', $locations ); 	if ( $result && ! is_wp_error( $result ) ) { 		/**		 * Fires after a navigation menu has been successfully deleted.		 *		 * @since 3.0.0		 *		 * @param int $term_id ID of the deleted menu.		 */		do_action( 'wp_delete_nav_menu', $menu->term_id );	} 	return $result;}

Changelog

Introduced in 3.0.0. 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/nav-menu.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
Corrections
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