WP_Comment_Query::get_comments(): int|int[]|WP_Comment[]

Compatibility

Present in every tracked release (6.7.10 to 7.1.3), and compiles on PHP 7.4 through 8.6-dev.

Return value

int|int[]|WP_Comment[]

List of comments or number of found comments if $count argument is true.

Performance profile

How much work a call to WP_Comment_Query::get_comments() 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

Moderate

Only touches the object cache, via wp_cache_get_last_changed().

Scaling

Scales with input

The body loops, so the work grows with how much data it finds.

Instructions

41–179

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 209.

Plugin surface

3 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'pre_get_comments', 'comments_pre_query', 'the_comments' 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

• hookthird-party callbacksdo_action_ref_array()called directly
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_get_last_changed()called directly
• serializeserialisationserialize()called directly

Further down the call graph this can also reach query, option 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 · 134 distinct outcomes

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

Hooks and filters fired · 3

3 hooks fire while WP_Comment_Query::get_comments() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   do_action( pre_get_comments )actionline 394 (+16 into the body)

   Fires before comments are retrieved.

2. 2
   apply_filters( comments_pre_query )filterline 434 (+56 into the body)

   Filters the comments data before the query takes place.

3. 3
   apply_filters( the_comments )filterline 522 (+144 into the body)

   Filters the comment query results.

Uses · 15

• do_action_ref_array()Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook, specifying arguments in an array.
• apply_filters_ref_array()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook, specifying arguments in an array.
• wp_array_slice_assoc()Extracts a slice of an array, given a list of keys.
• wp_cache_get_last_changed()Gets last changed date for the specified cache group.
• wp_cache_get()Retrieves the cache contents from the cache by key and group.
• wp_cache_add()Adds data to the cache, if the cache key doesn't already exist.
• wp_lazyload_comment_meta()Queue comment meta for lazy-loading.
• _prime_comment_caches()Adds any comments from the given IDs to the cache that do not already exist in cache.
• get_comment()Retrieves comment data given a comment ID or comment object.
• _prime_post_caches()Adds any posts from the given IDs to the cache that do not already exist in cache.
• WP_Comment_Query::parse_query()Parse arguments passed to the comment query with default query parameters.
• WP_Meta_Query::__construct()Constructor.

Used by · 1

• WP_Comment_Query::query()Sets up the WordPress query for retrieving comments.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

378	public function get_comments() {379		global $wpdb;380 381		$this->parse_query();382 383		// Parse meta query.384		$this->meta_query = new WP_Meta_Query();385		$this->meta_query->parse_query_vars( $this->query_vars );386 387		/**388		 * Fires before comments are retrieved.389		 *390		 * @since 3.1.0391		 *392		 * @param WP_Comment_Query $query Current instance of WP_Comment_Query (passed by reference).393		 */394		do_action_ref_array( 'pre_get_comments', array( &$this ) );395 396		// Reparse query vars, in case they were modified in a 'pre_get_comments' callback.397		$this->meta_query->parse_query_vars( $this->query_vars );398		if ( ! empty( $this->meta_query->queries ) ) {399			$this->meta_query_clauses = $this->meta_query->get_sql( 'comment', $wpdb->comments, 'comment_ID', $this );400		}401 402		$comment_data = null;403 404		/**405		 * Filters the comments data before the query takes place.406		 *407		 * Return a non-null value to bypass WordPress' default comment queries.408		 *409		 * The expected return type from this filter depends on the value passed410		 * in the request query vars:411		 * - When `$this->query_vars['count']` is set, the filter should return412		 *   the comment count as an integer.413		 * - When `'ids' === $this->query_vars['fields']`, the filter should return414		 *   an array of comment IDs.415		 * - Otherwise the filter should return an array of WP_Comment objects.416		 *417		 * Note that if the filter returns an array of comment data, it will be assigned418		 * to the `comments` property of the current WP_Comment_Query instance.419		 *420		 * Filtering functions that require pagination information are encouraged to set421		 * the `found_comments` and `max_num_pages` properties of the WP_Comment_Query object,422		 * passed to the filter by reference. If WP_Comment_Query does not perform a database423		 * query, it will not have enough information to generate these values itself.424		 *425		 * @since 5.3.0426		 * @since 5.6.0 The returned array of comment data is assigned to the `comments` property427		 *              of the current WP_Comment_Query instance.428		 *429		 * @param array|int|null   $comment_data Return an array of comment data to short-circuit WP's comment query,430		 *                                       the comment count as an integer if `$this->query_vars['count']` is set,431		 *                                       or null to allow WP to run its normal queries.432		 * @param WP_Comment_Query $query        The WP_Comment_Query instance, passed by reference.433		 */434		$comment_data = apply_filters_ref_array( 'comments_pre_query', array( $comment_data, &$this ) );435 436		if ( null !== $comment_data ) {437			if ( is_array( $comment_data ) && ! $this->query_vars['count'] ) {438				$this->comments = $comment_data;439			}440 441			return $comment_data;442		}443 444		/*445		 * Only use the args defined in the query_var_defaults to compute the key,446		 * but ignore 'fields', 'update_comment_meta_cache', 'update_comment_post_cache' which does not affect query results.447		 */448		$_args = wp_array_slice_assoc( $this->query_vars, array_keys( $this->query_var_defaults ) );449		unset( $_args['fields'], $_args['update_comment_meta_cache'], $_args['update_comment_post_cache'] );450 451		$key          = md5( serialize( $_args ) );452		$last_changed = wp_cache_get_last_changed( 'comment' );453 454		$cache_key   = "get_comments:$key:$last_changed";455		$cache_value = wp_cache_get( $cache_key, 'comment-queries' );456		if ( false === $cache_value ) {457			$comment_ids = $this->get_comment_ids();

Changelog

Introduced in 4.2.0. Unchanged from 6.7.10 through 7.1.3.

1. 6.7.10
2. 6.8.11
3. 6.9.10
4. 7.0.7
5. 7.1.3

Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.

About this page

Parsed data

Generated from the wordpress-develop 6.7.10 tag, from src/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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