Retrieves a category object by category slug.

$slug string Required

The category slug.

object|false Category data object on success, false if not found.

Same is achieved by:
get_term_by('slug', $slug, 'category');

File: wp-includes/category.php. View all references

function get_category_by_slug( $slug ) {
	$category = get_term_by( 'slug', $slug, 'category' );

	if ( $category ) {
		_make_cat_compat( $category );
	}

	return $category;
}