Title: Walker::start_lvl
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: April 28, 2025

---

# Walker::start_lvl( string $output, int $depth, array $args = array() )

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#description)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [More Information](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#more-information)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#changelog)
 * [User Contributed Notes](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#user-contributed-notes)

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

Starts the list before the elements are added.

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

The $args parameter holds additional values that may be used with the child class
methods. This method is called at the start of the output list.

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

 `$output`stringrequired

Used to append additional content (passed by reference).

`$depth`intrequired

Depth of the item.

`$args`arrayoptional

An array of additional arguments.

Default:`array()`

## 󠀁[More Information](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#more-information)󠁿

This method is **abstract** and should be explicitly defined in the child class,
as needed. Also note that $output is passed by reference, so any changes made to
the variable within the following methods are automatically handled (no return, 
echo, or print needed).

This method “Start Level” is run when the walker reaches the **start** of a new “
branch” in the tree structure. Generally, this method is used to add the opening
tag of a _container_ HTML element (such as <ol>, <ul>, or <div>) to $output.

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

    ```php
    public function start_lvl( &$output, $depth = 0, $args = array() ) {}
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-walker.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-walker.php#L63)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-walker.php#L63-L63)

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

| Used by | Description | 
| [Walker::display_element()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/display_element/)`wp-includes/class-wp-walker.php` |

Traverses elements to create list from elements.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [2.1.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.1.0/) | Introduced. |

## 󠀁[User Contributed Notes](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#user-contributed-notes)󠁿

 1.  [Skip to note 2 content](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/?output_format=md#comment-content-1264)
 2.   [Vincent Orback](https://profiles.wordpress.org/vincento1/)  [  10 years ago  ](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker/start_lvl/#comment-1264)
 3. [You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note](https://login.wordpress.org?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fclasses%2Fwalker%2Fstart_lvl%2F%23comment-1264)
    Vote results for this note: 2[You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note](https://login.wordpress.org?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fclasses%2Fwalker%2Fstart_lvl%2F%23comment-1264)
 4. The start level refers to the start of a sub-level. Mening that the output does
    not effect the initial  wrapping around the whole navigation, but only the list
    of childerns children.
 5.  [Log in to add feedback](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fclasses%2Fwalker%2Fstart_lvl%2F%3Freplytocom%3D1264%23feedback-editor-1264)

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