Updates an existing Category or creates a new Category.

$catarr array Required

Array of arguments for inserting a new category.

• cat_IDint
  Category ID. A non-zero value updates an existing category.
  Default 0.
• taxonomystring
  Taxonomy slug. Default 'category'.
• cat_namestring
  Category name. Default empty.
• category_descriptionstring
  Category description. Default empty.
• category_nicenamestring
  Category nice (display) name. Default empty.
• category_parentint|string
  Category parent ID. Default empty.

$wp_error bool Optional

Default: false

int|WP_Error The ID number of the new or updated Category on success. Zero or a WP_Error on failure, depending on param $wp_error.

Not all possible members of the $catarr array are listed here.

The value of category_nicename will set the slug. (In WordPress terminology, a “nice” name is one that is sanitized for use in places like URLs. It is not meant for displaying to humans, as you might assume.)

See wp_create_category() for a simpler version which takes just a string instead of an array

File: wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php. View all references

function wp_insert_category( $catarr, $wp_error = false ) {
	$cat_defaults = array(
		'cat_ID'               => 0,
		'taxonomy'             => 'category',
		'cat_name'             => '',
		'category_description' => '',
		'category_nicename'    => '',
		'category_parent'      => '',
	);
	$catarr       = wp_parse_args( $catarr, $cat_defaults );

	if ( '' === trim( $catarr['cat_name'] ) ) {
		if ( ! $wp_error ) {
			return 0;
		} else {
			return new WP_Error( 'cat_name', __( 'You did not enter a category name.' ) );
		}
	}

	$catarr['cat_ID'] = (int) $catarr['cat_ID'];

	// Are we updating or creating?
	$update = ! empty( $catarr['cat_ID'] );

	$name        = $catarr['cat_name'];
	$description = $catarr['category_description'];
	$slug        = $catarr['category_nicename'];
	$parent      = (int) $catarr['category_parent'];
	if ( $parent < 0 ) {
		$parent = 0;
	}

	if ( empty( $parent )
		|| ! term_exists( $parent, $catarr['taxonomy'] )
		|| ( $catarr['cat_ID'] && term_is_ancestor_of( $catarr['cat_ID'], $parent, $catarr['taxonomy'] ) ) ) {
		$parent = 0;
	}

	$args = compact( 'name', 'slug', 'parent', 'description' );

	if ( $update ) {
		$catarr['cat_ID'] = wp_update_term( $catarr['cat_ID'], $catarr['taxonomy'], $args );
	} else {
		$catarr['cat_ID'] = wp_insert_term( $catarr['cat_name'], $catarr['taxonomy'], $args );
	}

	if ( is_wp_error( $catarr['cat_ID'] ) ) {
		if ( $wp_error ) {
			return $catarr['cat_ID'];
		} else {
			return 0;
		}
	}
	return $catarr['cat_ID']['term_id'];
}