Title: WP_Customize_Setting::multidimensional
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: April 28, 2025

---

# WP_Customize_Setting::multidimensional( array $root, array $keys, bool $create = false ): array|void

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_setting/multidimensional/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_setting/multidimensional/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_setting/multidimensional/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_setting/multidimensional/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_setting/multidimensional/?output_format=md#changelog)

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

Multidimensional helper function.

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

 `$root`arrayrequired

`$keys`arrayrequired

`$create`booloptional

Default:`false`

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_setting/multidimensional/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 array|void Keys are `'root'`, `'node'`, and `'key'`.

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

    ```php
    final protected function multidimensional( &$root, $keys, $create = false ) {
    	if ( $create && empty( $root ) ) {
    		$root = array();
    	}

    	if ( ! isset( $root ) || empty( $keys ) ) {
    		return;
    	}

    	$last = array_pop( $keys );
    	$node = &$root;

    	foreach ( $keys as $key ) {
    		if ( $create && ! isset( $node[ $key ] ) ) {
    			$node[ $key ] = array();
    		}

    		if ( ! is_array( $node ) || ! isset( $node[ $key ] ) ) {
    			return;
    		}

    		$node = &$node[ $key ];
    	}

    	if ( $create ) {
    		if ( ! is_array( $node ) ) {
    			// Account for an array overriding a string or object value.
    			$node = array();
    		}
    		if ( ! isset( $node[ $last ] ) ) {
    			$node[ $last ] = array();
    		}
    	}

    	if ( ! isset( $node[ $last ] ) ) {
    		return;
    	}

    	return array(
    		'root' => &$root,
    		'node' => &$node,
    		'key'  => $last,
    	);
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-customize-setting.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-customize-setting.php#L861)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-customize-setting.php#L861-L904)

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

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Customize_Setting::multidimensional_replace()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_setting/multidimensional_replace/)`wp-includes/class-wp-customize-setting.php` |

Will attempt to replace a specific value in a multidimensional array.

  | 
| [WP_Customize_Setting::multidimensional_get()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_setting/multidimensional_get/)`wp-includes/class-wp-customize-setting.php` |

Will attempt to fetch a specific value from a multidimensional array.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [3.4.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/3.4.0/) | Introduced. |

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