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FunctionReference/wp create category

This function adds a "simple" category by specifying a category name and (optionally) a category parent.

<?php wp_create_category( $cat_name, $parent ); ?>

$cat_name

(string) (required) Name for the new category.

Default: None

$parent

(integer) (optional) Category ID of the parent category.

Default: None

In order to create a simple category use:

 wp_create_category('My category name');

To create a category that is a child of Uncategorized (or whatever category has the ID 0), use:

wp_create_category('Child of Uncategorized', 0);

To get id of category created and put value in variable:

$id = wp_create_category('Child of Uncategorized', 0);

wp_create_category() is a thin wrapper around wp_insert_category().
Because this is a wrapper, it is not suitable for entering a complex custom taxonomy element.

wp_create_category() is located in wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php.