wp_delete_term( int $term, string $taxonomy, array|string $args = array() ): bool|int|WP_Error

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

$termint

Term ID.

$taxonomystring

Taxonomy name.

$argsarray|stringoptional

Array of arguments to override the default term ID. Default empty array.Default: array()

• $defaultint

  The term ID to make the default term. This will only override the terms found if there is only one term found. Any other and the found terms are used.

• $force_defaultbooldefault: false

  Optional. Whether to force the supplied term as default to be assigned even if the object was not going to be term-less.

Return value

bool|int|WP_Error

True on success, false if term does not exist. Zero on attempted deletion of default Category. WP_Error if the taxonomy does not exist.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_delete_term() 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

13–234

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 295.

Plugin surface

7 hooks

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

Called by

7

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

What it touches

• optionoption read or writeget_option()called directly
• hookthird-party callbacksdo_action()called directly
• querycontent queryget_term()called directly
• sqldatabase query->get_col()called directly
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_get()one call below wp_delete_term()
• serializeserialisationmaybe_unserialize()one call below wp_delete_term()

Further down the call graph this can also reach transient. That is the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.

What one call costs · 45 distinct outcomes

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

Hooks and filters fired · 7

7 hooks fire while wp_delete_term() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   do_action( pre_delete_term )actionline 2111 (+54 into the body)

   Fires when deleting a term, before any modifications are made to posts or terms.

2. 2
   do_action( edit_term_taxonomies )actionline 2131 (+74 into the body)

   Fires immediately before a term to delete's children are reassigned a parent.

3. 3
   do_action( edited_term_taxonomies )actionline 2146 (+89 into the body)

   Fires immediately after a term to delete's children are reassigned a parent.

4. 4
   do_action( delete_term_taxonomy )actionline 2200 (+143 into the body)

   Fires immediately before a term taxonomy ID is deleted.

5. 5
   do_action( deleted_term_taxonomy )actionline 2211 (+154 into the body)

   Fires immediately after a term taxonomy ID is deleted.

6. 6
   do_action( delete_term )actionline 2235 (+178 into the body)

   Fires after a term is deleted from the database and the cache is cleaned.

7. 7
   do_action( delete_{$taxonomy} )actionline 2256 (+199 into the body)

   Fires after a term in a specific taxonomy is deleted.

Uses · 15

• term_exists()Determines whether a taxonomy term exists.
• is_wp_error()Checks whether the given variable is a WordPress Error.
• get_option()Retrieves an option value based on an option name.
• get_taxonomy()Retrieves the taxonomy object of $taxonomy.
• wp_parse_args()Merges user defined arguments into defaults array.
• do_action()Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.
• is_taxonomy_hierarchical()Determines whether the taxonomy object is hierarchical.
• get_term()Gets all term data from database by term ID.
• wp_list_pluck()Plucks a certain field out of each object or array in an array.
• clean_term_cache()Removes all of the term IDs from the cache.
• wp_remove_object_terms()Removes term(s) associated with a given object.
• wp_get_object_terms()Retrieves the terms associated with the given object(s), in the supplied taxonomies.

Used by · 7

• WP_REST_Terms_Controller::delete_item()Deletes a single term from a taxonomy.
• upgrade_350()Execute changes made in WordPress 3.5.
• wp_ajax_delete_tag()Handles deleting a tag via AJAX.
• wp_delete_category()Deletes one existing category.
• wp_delete_nav_menu()Deletes a navigation menu.
• wp_xmlrpc_server::wp_deleteCategory()Deletes a category.
• wp_xmlrpc_server::wp_deleteTerm()Deletes a term.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

2057function wp_delete_term( $term, $taxonomy, $args = array() ) {2058	global $wpdb;2059 2060	$term = (int) $term;2061 2062	$ids = term_exists( $term, $taxonomy );2063	if ( ! $ids ) {2064		return false;2065	}2066	if ( is_wp_error( $ids ) ) {2067		return $ids;2068	}2069 2070	$tt_id = $ids['term_taxonomy_id'];2071 2072	$defaults = array();2073 2074	if ( 'category' === $taxonomy ) {2075		$defaults['default'] = (int) get_option( 'default_category' );2076		if ( $defaults['default'] === $term ) {2077			return 0; // Don't delete the default category.2078		}2079	}2080 2081	// Don't delete the default custom taxonomy term.2082	$taxonomy_object = get_taxonomy( $taxonomy );2083	if ( ! empty( $taxonomy_object->default_term ) ) {2084		$defaults['default'] = (int) get_option( 'default_term_' . $taxonomy );2085		if ( $defaults['default'] === $term ) {2086			return 0;2087		}2088	}2089 2090	$args = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );2091 2092	if ( isset( $args['default'] ) ) {2093		$default = (int) $args['default'];2094		if ( ! term_exists( $default, $taxonomy ) ) {2095			unset( $default );2096		}2097	}2098 2099	if ( isset( $args['force_default'] ) ) {2100		$force_default = $args['force_default'];2101	}2102 2103	/**2104	 * Fires when deleting a term, before any modifications are made to posts or terms.2105	 *2106	 * @since 4.1.02107	 *2108	 * @param int    $term     Term ID.2109	 * @param string $taxonomy Taxonomy name.2110	 */2111	do_action( 'pre_delete_term', $term, $taxonomy );2112 2113	// Update children to point to new parent.2114	if ( is_taxonomy_hierarchical( $taxonomy ) ) {2115		$term_obj = get_term( $term, $taxonomy );2116		if ( is_wp_error( $term_obj ) ) {2117			return $term_obj;2118		}2119		$parent = $term_obj->parent;2120 2121		$edit_ids    = $wpdb->get_results( "SELECT term_id, term_taxonomy_id FROM $wpdb->term_taxonomy WHERE `parent` = " . (int) $term_obj->term_id );2122		$edit_tt_ids = wp_list_pluck( $edit_ids, 'term_taxonomy_id' );2123 2124		/**2125		 * Fires immediately before a term to delete's children are reassigned a parent.2126		 *2127		 * @since 2.9.02128		 *2129		 * @param array $edit_tt_ids An array of term taxonomy IDs for the given term.2130		 */2131		do_action( 'edit_term_taxonomies', $edit_tt_ids );2132 2133		$wpdb->update( $wpdb->term_taxonomy, compact( 'parent' ), array( 'parent' => $term_obj->term_id ) + compact( 'taxonomy' ) );2134 2135		// Clean the cache for all child terms.2136		$edit_term_ids = wp_list_pluck( $edit_ids, 'term_id' );

Changelog

Introduced in 2.3.0. 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-includes/taxonomy.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.