Title: WP_Site_Query::parse_query
Published: August 16, 2016
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# WP_Site_Query::parse_query( string|array $query = '' )

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#hooks)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Parses arguments passed to the site query with default query parameters.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [WP_Site_Query::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/__construct/)

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$query`string|arrayoptional

Array or string of [WP_Site_Query](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_site_query/)
arguments. See [WP_Site_Query::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_site_query/__construct/).

Default:`''`

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function parse_query( $query = '' ) {
    	if ( empty( $query ) ) {
    		$query = $this->query_vars;
    	}

    	$this->query_vars = wp_parse_args( $query, $this->query_var_defaults );

    	/**
    	 * Fires after the site query vars have been parsed.
    	 *
    	 * @since 4.6.0
    	 *
    	 * @param WP_Site_Query $query The WP_Site_Query instance (passed by reference).
    	 */
    	do_action_ref_array( 'parse_site_query', array( &$this ) );
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-site-query.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/class-wp-site-query.php#L243)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/class-wp-site-query.php#L243-L258)

## 󠀁[Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#hooks)󠁿

 [do_action_ref_array( ‘parse_site_query’, WP_Site_Query $query )](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/parse_site_query/)

Fires after the site query vars have been parsed.

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [do_action_ref_array()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/do_action_ref_array/)`wp-includes/plugin.php` |

Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook, specifying arguments in an array.

  | 
| [wp_parse_args()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_parse_args/)`wp-includes/functions.php` |

Merges user defined arguments into defaults array.

  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Site_Query::get_sites()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_site_query/get_sites/)`wp-includes/class-wp-site-query.php` |

Retrieves a list of sites matching the query vars.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Site_Query/parse_query/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [4.6.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.6.0/) | Introduced. |

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