wp_publish_post( int|WP_Post $post )

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$postint|WP_Post

Post ID or post object.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_publish_post() 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

8–95

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 131.

Plugin surface

5 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'edit_post_{$post->post_type}', 'edit_post', 'save_post_{$post->post_type}' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by

1

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

What it touches

• querycontent queryget_post()called directly
• optionoption read or writeget_option()called directly
• hookthird-party callbacksdo_action()called directly
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_add()one call below wp_publish_post()
• serializeserialisationmaybe_unserialize()one call below wp_publish_post()

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 · 2 distinct outcomes

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

Hooks and filters fired · 5

5 hooks fire while wp_publish_post() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   do_action( edit_post_{$post->post_type} )actionline 5455 (+51 into the body)

   Fires once an existing post has been updated.

2. 2
   do_action( edit_post )actionline 5458 (+54 into the body)

   Fires once an existing post has been updated.

3. 3
   do_action( save_post_{$post->post_type} )actionline 5461 (+57 into the body)

   Fires once a post has been saved.

4. 4
   do_action( save_post )actionline 5464 (+60 into the body)

   Fires once a post has been saved.

5. 5
   do_action( wp_insert_post )actionline 5467 (+63 into the body)

   Fires once a post has been saved.

Uses · 9

• get_post()Retrieves post data given a post ID or post object.
• get_object_taxonomies()Returns the names or objects of the taxonomies which are registered for the requested object or object type, such as a post object or post type name.
• get_the_terms()Retrieves the terms of the taxonomy that are attached to the post.
• get_option()Retrieves an option value based on an option name.
• wp_set_post_terms()Sets the terms for a post.
• clean_post_cache()Will clean the post in the cache.
• wp_transition_post_status()Fires actions related to the transitioning of a post's status.
• do_action()Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.
• wp_after_insert_post()Fires actions after a post, its terms and meta data has been saved.

Used by · 1

• check_and_publish_future_post()Publishes future post and make sure post ID has future post status.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

5404function wp_publish_post( $post ) {5405	global $wpdb;5406 5407	$post = get_post( $post );5408 5409	if ( ! $post ) {5410		return;5411	}5412 5413	if ( 'publish' === $post->post_status ) {5414		return;5415	}5416 5417	$post_before = get_post( $post->ID );5418 5419	// Ensure at least one term is applied for taxonomies with a default term.5420	foreach ( get_object_taxonomies( $post->post_type, 'object' ) as $taxonomy => $tax_object ) {5421		// Skip taxonomy if no default term is set.5422		if (5423			'category' !== $taxonomy &&5424			empty( $tax_object->default_term )5425		) {5426			continue;5427		}5428 5429		// Do not modify previously set terms.5430		if ( ! empty( get_the_terms( $post, $taxonomy ) ) ) {5431			continue;5432		}5433 5434		if ( 'category' === $taxonomy ) {5435			$default_term_id = (int) get_option( 'default_category', 0 );5436		} else {5437			$default_term_id = (int) get_option( 'default_term_' . $taxonomy, 0 );5438		}5439 5440		if ( ! $default_term_id ) {5441			continue;5442		}5443		wp_set_post_terms( $post->ID, array( $default_term_id ), $taxonomy );5444	}5445 5446	$wpdb->update( $wpdb->posts, array( 'post_status' => 'publish' ), array( 'ID' => $post->ID ) );5447 5448	clean_post_cache( $post->ID );5449 5450	$old_status        = $post->post_status;5451	$post->post_status = 'publish';5452	wp_transition_post_status( 'publish', $old_status, $post );5453 5454	/** This action is documented in wp-includes/post.php */5455	do_action( "edit_post_{$post->post_type}", $post->ID, $post );5456 5457	/** This action is documented in wp-includes/post.php */5458	do_action( 'edit_post', $post->ID, $post );5459 5460	/** This action is documented in wp-includes/post.php */5461	do_action( "save_post_{$post->post_type}", $post->ID, $post, true );5462 5463	/** This action is documented in wp-includes/post.php */5464	do_action( 'save_post', $post->ID, $post, true );5465 5466	/** This action is documented in wp-includes/post.php */5467	do_action( 'wp_insert_post', $post->ID, $post, true );5468 5469	wp_after_insert_post( $post, true, $post_before );5470}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.1.0. 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/post.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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