wppaste
WordPress

wp_popular_terms_checklist( string $taxonomy, int $default_term = 0, int $number = 10, bool $display = true ): int[]

Since
2.5.0
Source
wp-admin/includes/template.php:211
Retrieves a list of the most popular terms from the specified taxonomy.

Description

If the $display argument is true then the elements for a list of checkbox <input> elements labelled with the names of the selected terms is output.
If the $post_ID global is not empty then the terms associated with that post will be marked as checked.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 2.5.0
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

$taxonomystring
Taxonomy to retrieve terms from.
$default_termintoptional
Not used.Default: 0
$numberintoptional
Number of terms to retrieve. Default 10.Default: 10
$displaybooloptional
Whether to display the list as well. Default true.Default: true

Return value

int[]
Array of popular term IDs.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_popular_terms_checklist() 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_post().

Scaling
Scales with input

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

Instructions
27–38

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 93.

Plugin surface
1 hook

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

Called by
3

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

What it touches

  • querycontent queryget_post()called directly
  • hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()called directly

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 · 2 distinct outcomes

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

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
always27–30get_post(), taxonomy(), get_taxonomy()
$post37–38get_post(), wp_get_object_terms(), taxonomy(), get_taxonomy()

Across PHP versions

PHPCompiledExecutedBranchesNotes
8.6-dev9327–386
8.59327–386
8.49327–3863 fewer instructions than PHP 8.3
8.39627–386
8.29627–386
8.19627–386
7.49627–386

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_popular_terms_checklist() runs, in this order:

  1. apply_filters( the_category )filterline 250 (+39 into the body)

    Filters the category or list of categories.

Uses · 8

Used by · 3

Source code

function wp_popular_terms_checklist( $taxonomy, $default_term = 0, $number = 10, $display = true ) {	$post = get_post(); 	if ( $post && $post->ID ) {		$checked_terms = wp_get_object_terms( $post->ID, $taxonomy, array( 'fields' => 'ids' ) );	} else {		$checked_terms = array();	} 	$terms = get_terms(		array(			'taxonomy'     => $taxonomy,			'orderby'      => 'count',			'order'        => 'DESC',			'number'       => $number,			'hierarchical' => false,		)	); 	$tax = get_taxonomy( $taxonomy ); 	$popular_ids = array(); 	foreach ( (array) $terms as $term ) {		$popular_ids[] = $term->term_id; 		if ( ! $display ) { // Hack for Ajax use.			continue;		} 		$id      = "popular-$taxonomy-$term->term_id";		$checked = in_array( $term->term_id, $checked_terms, true ) ? 'checked="checked"' : '';		?> 		<li id="<?php echo $id; ?>" class="popular-category">			<label class="selectit">				<input id="in-<?php echo $id; ?>" type="checkbox" <?php echo $checked; ?> value="<?php echo (int) $term->term_id; ?>" <?php disabled( ! current_user_can( $tax->cap->assign_terms ) ); ?> />				<?php				/** This filter is documented in wp-includes/category-template.php */				echo esc_html( apply_filters( 'the_category', $term->name, '', '' ) );				?>			</label>		</li> 		<?php	}	return $popular_ids;}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.5.0. 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-admin/includes/template.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
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