Codex

Function Reference/get terms

Contents

Description

Retrieve the terms in taxonomy or list of taxonomies.

Usage

<?php get_terms( $taxonomies, $args ) ?>

Default Usage

 <?php 
// no default values. using these as examples
$taxonomies = array( 
    'post_tag',
    'my_tax',
);

$args = array(
    'orderby'       => 'name', 
    'order'         => 'ASC',
    'hide_empty'    => true, 
    'exclude'       => array(), 
    'exclude_tree'  => array(), 
    'include'       => array(),
    'number'        => , 
    'fields'        => 'all', 
    'slug'          => , 
    'parent'         => ,
    'hierarchical'  => true, 
    'child_of'      => 0, 
    'get'           => , 
    'name__like'    => ,
    'pad_counts'    => false, 
    'offset'        => , 
    'search'        => , 
    'cache_domain'  => 'core'
); 
?> 

Parameters

$taxonomies
(string|array) (required) The taxonomies to retrieve terms from.
Default: None
$args
(string|array) (optional) Change what is returned.
Default: array

Possible Arguments

orderby 
(string)
  • id
  • count
  • name - Default
  • slug
  • term_group
  • none
order 
(string)
  • ASC - Default
  • DESC
hide_empty 
(boolean) Whether to return empty $terms.
  • 1 (true) - Default (i.e. Do not show empty terms)
  • 0 (false)
exclude 
(integer|string|array) An array of term ids to exclude. Also accepts a string of comma-separated ids.
exclude_tree 
(integer) An array of parent term ids to exclude
include 
(integer) An array of term ids to include. Empty returns all.
number 
(integer) The maximum number of terms to return. Default is to return them all.
fields 
(string)
  • all - returns an array of term objects - Default
  • ids - returns an array of integers
  • names - returns an array of strings
  • count - (3.2+) returns the number of terms found
  • id=>parent - returns an associative array where the key is the term id and the value is the parent term id if present or 0
slug 
(string) Returns terms whose "slug" matches this value. Default is empty string.
parent 
(integer) Get direct children of this term (only terms whose explicit parent is this value). If 0 is passed, only top-level terms are returned. Default is an empty string.
hierarchical 
(boolean) Whether to include terms that have non-empty descendants (even if 'hide_empty' is set to true).
  • 1 (true) - Default
  • 0 (false)
child_of 
(integer) Get all descendents of this term. Default is 0.
get 
(string) Default is nothing . Allow for overwriting 'hide_empty' and 'child_of', which can be done by setting the value to 'all'.
name__like 
(string) The term name you wish to match. It does a LIKE 'term_name%' query. This matches terms that begin with the 'name__like' string.
pad_counts 
(boolean) If true, count all of the children along with the $terms.
  • 1 (true)
  • 0 (false) - Default
offset 
(integer) The number by which to offset the terms query.
search 
(string) The term name you wish to match. It does a LIKE '%term_name%' query. This matches terms that contain the 'search' string.
cache_domain 
(string) Version 3.2 and above. The 'cache_domain' argument enables a unique cache key to be produced when the query produced by get_terms() is stored in object cache. For instance, if you are using one of this function's filters to modify the query (such as 'terms_clauses'), setting 'cache_domain' to a unique value will not overwrite the cache for similar queries. Default value is 'core'.

NOTE: Arguments are passed in the format used by wp_parse_args(). e.g.

NOTE: The difference between 'search' and 'name__like' is the leading '%' in the LIKE clause. So search is '%search%' and name__like is 'name__like%'

Return Values

(mixed) 
Term Row from database. Will return false if $taxonomy does not exist or $term was not found.

The fields returned are:

  • term_id
  • name
  • slug
  • term_group
  • term_taxonomy_id
  • taxonomy
  • description
  • parent
  • count

Examples

Get all post categories ordered by count.

String syntax: 

$categories = get_terms( 'category', 'orderby=count&hide_empty=0' );

Array syntax: 

 $categories = get_terms( 'category', array(
 	'orderby'    => 'count',
 	'hide_empty' => 0
 ) );

Get all the links categories: 

$mylinks_categories = get_terms('link_category', 'orderby=count&hide_empty=0');

List all the terms in a custom taxonomy, without a link: 

 $terms = get_terms("my_taxonomy");
 $count = count($terms);
 if ( $count > 0 ){
     echo "<ul>";
     foreach ( $terms as $term ) {
       echo "<li>" . $term->name . "</li>";
        
     }
     echo "</ul>";
 }

List all the terms, with link to term archive, separated by an interpunct (·). (language specific, WPML method): 

$args = array( 'taxonomy' => 'my_term' );

$terms = get_terms('my_term', $args);

$count = count($terms); $i=0;
if ($count > 0) {
    $cape_list = '<p class="my_term-archive">';
    foreach ($terms as $term) {
        $i++;
    	$term_list .= '<a href="/term-base/' . $term->slug . '" title="' . sprintf(__('View all post filed under %s', 'my_localization_domain'), $term->name) . '">' . $term->name . '</a>';
    	if ($count != $i) $term_list .= ' &middot; '; else $term_list .= '</p>';
    }
    echo $term_list;
}

Details

You can inject any customizations to the query before it is sent or control the output with filters.

The 'get_terms' filter will be called when the cache has the term and will pass the found term along with the array of $taxonomies and array of $args.

This filter is also called before the array of terms is passed and will pass the array of terms, along with the $taxonomies and $args.

The 'list_terms_exclusions' filter passes the compiled exclusions along with the $args.

Source File

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

Related

Resources

See also index of Function Reference and index of Template Tags.
Retrieved from "http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_terms"

Codex Resources