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WordPress

wp_specialchars_decode( string $text, string|int $quote_style = ENT_NOQUOTES ): string

Since
2.8.0
Source
wp-includes/formatting.php:1015
Converts a number of HTML entities into their special characters.

Description

Specifically deals with: &, <, >, ", and '.

$quote_style can be set to ENT_COMPAT to decode " entities, or ENT_QUOTES to do both " and '. Default is ENT_NOQUOTES where no quotes are decoded.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 2.8.0
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

$textstring
The text which is to be decoded.
$quote_stylestring|intoptional
Converts double quotes if set to ENT_COMPAT, both single and double if set to ENT_QUOTES or none if set to ENT_NOQUOTES.
Also compatible with old _wp_specialchars() values; converting single quotes if set to 'single', double if set to 'double' or both if otherwise set.
Default is ENT_NOQUOTES.Default: ENT_NOQUOTES

Return value

string
The decoded text without HTML entities.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_specialchars_decode() 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
Trivial

Touches nothing outside its own arguments.

Scaling
Constant

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

Instructions
8–37

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 50.

Plugin surface
None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by
25

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

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_specialchars_decode() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
always8–10none
$text29–37array_keys(), array_values()

Across PHP versions

PHPCompiledExecutedBranchesNotes
8.6-dev508–379
8.5508–379
8.4508–3799 fewer instructions than PHP 8.3
8.3598–469
8.2598–469
8.1598–469
7.4598–469

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.

Uses · 1

  • str_contains()Polyfill for `str_contains()` function added in PHP 8.0.

Used by · 25

Show all 25

Source code

function wp_specialchars_decode( $text, $quote_style = ENT_NOQUOTES ) {	$text = (string) $text; 	if ( 0 === strlen( $text ) ) {		return '';	} 	// Don't bother if there are no entities - saves a lot of processing.	if ( ! str_contains( $text, '&' ) ) {		return $text;	} 	// Match the previous behavior of _wp_specialchars() when the $quote_style is not an accepted value.	if ( empty( $quote_style ) ) {		$quote_style = ENT_NOQUOTES;	} elseif ( ! in_array( $quote_style, array( 0, 2, 3, 'single', 'double' ), true ) ) {		$quote_style = ENT_QUOTES;	} 	// More complete than get_html_translation_table( HTML_SPECIALCHARS ).	$single      = array(		'&#039;' => '\'',		'&#x27;' => '\'',	);	$single_preg = array(		'/&#0*39;/'   => '&#039;',		'/&#x0*27;/i' => '&#x27;',	);	$double      = array(		'&quot;' => '"',		'&#034;' => '"',		'&#x22;' => '"',	);	$double_preg = array(		'/&#0*34;/'   => '&#034;',		'/&#x0*22;/i' => '&#x22;',	);	$others      = array(		'&lt;'   => '<',		'&#060;' => '<',		'&gt;'   => '>',		'&#062;' => '>',		'&amp;'  => '&',		'&#038;' => '&',		'&#x26;' => '&',	);	$others_preg = array(		'/&#0*60;/'   => '&#060;',		'/&#0*62;/'   => '&#062;',		'/&#0*38;/'   => '&#038;',		'/&#x0*26;/i' => '&#x26;',	); 	if ( ENT_QUOTES === $quote_style ) {		$translation      = array_merge( $single, $double, $others );		$translation_preg = array_merge( $single_preg, $double_preg, $others_preg );	} elseif ( ENT_COMPAT === $quote_style || 'double' === $quote_style ) {		$translation      = array_merge( $double, $others );		$translation_preg = array_merge( $double_preg, $others_preg );	} elseif ( 'single' === $quote_style ) {		$translation      = array_merge( $single, $others );		$translation_preg = array_merge( $single_preg, $others_preg );	} elseif ( ENT_NOQUOTES === $quote_style ) {		$translation      = $others;		$translation_preg = $others_preg;	} 	// Remove zero padding on numeric entities.	$text = preg_replace( array_keys( $translation_preg ), array_values( $translation_preg ), $text ); 	// Replace characters according to translation table.	return strtr( $text, $translation );}

Changelog

Introduced in 2.8.0. 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

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Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.0.4 tag, from src/wp-includes/formatting.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
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