wp_hash( string $data, string $scheme = 'auth' ): string

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$datastring

Plain text to hash.

$schemestringoptional

Authentication scheme (auth, secure_auth, logged_in, nonce).Default: 'auth'

Return value

string

Hash of $data.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_hash() 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

Moderate

Reads stored settings via get_site_option(), cached per request but not free on a cold cache.

Scaling

Constant

No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.

Instructions

12

Executed per call on PHP 8.5. The body compiles to 12.

Plugin surface

None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by

11

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

What it touches

• hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()one call below wp_hash()
• optionnetwork optionget_site_option()one call below wp_hash()

Further down the call graph this can also reach cache, serialize, transient and query. Those are the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.

What one call costs · 1 distinct outcome

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

Uses · 2

• wp_salt()Returns a salt to add to hashes.
• hash_hmac()Compat function to mimic hash_hmac().

Used by · 11

• WP_Customize_Nav_Menus::hash_nav_menu_args()Hashes (hmac) the nav menu arguments to ensure they are not tampered with when submitted in the Ajax request.
• WP_Customize_Widgets::get_instance_hash_key()Retrieves MAC for a serialized widget instance string.
• WP_REST_Widget_Types_Controller::encode_form_data()An RPC-style endpoint which can be used by clients to turn user input in a widget admin form into an encoded instance object.
• WP_REST_Widgets_Controller::prepare_item_for_response()Prepares the widget for the REST response.
• WP_REST_Widgets_Controller::save_widget()Saves the widget in the request object.
• render_block_core_legacy_widget()Renders the 'core/legacy-widget' block.
• wp_create_nonce()Creates a cryptographic token tied to a specific action, user, user session, and window of time.
• wp_generate_auth_cookie()Generates authentication cookie contents.
• wp_get_unapproved_comment_author_email()Gets unapproved comment author's email.
• wp_validate_auth_cookie()Validates authentication cookie.
• wp_verify_nonce()Verifies that a correct security nonce was used with time limit.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

2591	function wp_hash( $data, $scheme = 'auth' ) {2592		$salt = wp_salt( $scheme );2593 2594		return hash_hmac( 'md5', $data, $salt );2595	}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.0.3. One change between 6.7.7 and 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 6.7.7 tag, from src/wp-includes/pluggable.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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