wp_remove_object_terms( int $object_id, string|int|array $terms, string $taxonomy ): bool|WP_Error

Compatibility

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

Parameters

$object_idint

The ID of the object from which the terms will be removed.

$termsstring|int|array

The slug(s) or ID(s) of the term(s) to remove.

$taxonomystring

Taxonomy name.

Return value

bool|WP_Error

True on success, false or WP_Error on failure.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_remove_object_terms() 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 ->query().

Scaling

Scales with input

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

Instructions

18–62

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 92.

Plugin surface

2 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'delete_term_relationships', 'deleted_term_relationships' 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

• hookthird-party callbacksdo_action()called directly
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_delete()called directly
• sqldatabase query->query()called directly
• querycontent queryget_terms()one call below wp_remove_object_terms()

Further down the call graph this can also reach option, 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_remove_object_terms() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

Hooks and filters fired · 2

2 hooks fire while wp_remove_object_terms() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   do_action( delete_term_relationships )actionline 3051 (+48 into the body)

   Fires immediately before an object-term relationship is deleted.

2. 2
   do_action( deleted_term_relationships )actionline 3068 (+65 into the body)

   Fires immediately after an object-term relationship is deleted.

Uses · 9

• taxonomy_exists()Determines whether the taxonomy name exists.
• __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
• term_exists()Determines whether a taxonomy term exists.
• is_wp_error()Checks whether the given variable is a WordPress Error.
• do_action()Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.
• wp_cache_delete()Removes the cache contents matching key and group.
• wp_cache_set_terms_last_changed()Sets the last changed time for the 'terms' cache group.
• wp_update_term_count()Updates the amount of terms in taxonomy.
• WP_Error::__construct()Initializes the error.

Used by · 3

• wp_delete_object_term_relationships()Unlinks the object from the taxonomy or taxonomies.
• wp_delete_term()Removes a term from the database.
• wp_set_object_terms()Creates term and taxonomy relationships.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

3003function wp_remove_object_terms( $object_id, $terms, $taxonomy ) {3004	global $wpdb;3005 3006	$object_id = (int) $object_id;3007 3008	if ( ! taxonomy_exists( $taxonomy ) ) {3009		return new WP_Error( 'invalid_taxonomy', __( 'Invalid taxonomy.' ) );3010	}3011 3012	if ( ! is_array( $terms ) ) {3013		$terms = array( $terms );3014	}3015 3016	$tt_ids = array();3017 3018	foreach ( (array) $terms as $term ) {3019		if ( '' === trim( $term ) ) {3020			continue;3021		}3022 3023		$term_info = term_exists( $term, $taxonomy );3024		if ( ! $term_info ) {3025			// Skip if a non-existent term ID is passed.3026			if ( is_int( $term ) ) {3027				continue;3028			}3029		}3030 3031		if ( is_wp_error( $term_info ) ) {3032			return $term_info;3033		}3034 3035		$tt_ids[] = $term_info['term_taxonomy_id'];3036	}3037 3038	if ( $tt_ids ) {3039		$in_tt_ids = "'" . implode( "', '", $tt_ids ) . "'";3040 3041		/**3042		 * Fires immediately before an object-term relationship is deleted.3043		 *3044		 * @since 2.9.03045		 * @since 4.7.0 Added the `$taxonomy` parameter.3046		 *3047		 * @param int    $object_id Object ID.3048		 * @param array  $tt_ids    An array of term taxonomy IDs.3049		 * @param string $taxonomy  Taxonomy slug.3050		 */3051		do_action( 'delete_term_relationships', $object_id, $tt_ids, $taxonomy );3052 3053		$deleted = $wpdb->query( $wpdb->prepare( "DELETE FROM $wpdb->term_relationships WHERE object_id = %d AND term_taxonomy_id IN ($in_tt_ids)", $object_id ) );3054 3055		wp_cache_delete( $object_id, $taxonomy . '_relationships' );3056		wp_cache_set_terms_last_changed();3057 3058		/**3059		 * Fires immediately after an object-term relationship is deleted.3060		 *3061		 * @since 2.9.03062		 * @since 4.7.0 Added the `$taxonomy` parameter.3063		 *3064		 * @param int    $object_id Object ID.3065		 * @param array  $tt_ids    An array of term taxonomy IDs.3066		 * @param string $taxonomy  Taxonomy slug.3067		 */3068		do_action( 'deleted_term_relationships', $object_id, $tt_ids, $taxonomy );3069 3070		wp_update_term_count( $tt_ids, $taxonomy );3071 3072		return (bool) $deleted;3073	}3074 3075	return false;3076}

Changelog

Introduced in 3.6.0. 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 6.9.7 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

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