Title: WP_Font_Utils::maybe_add_quotes
Published: April 3, 2024
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# WP_Font_Utils::maybe_add_quotes( string $item ): string

## In this article

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

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

This function’s access is marked private. This means it is not intended for use 
by plugin or theme developers, only by core. It is listed here for completeness.

Adds surrounding quotes to font family names that contain special characters.

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

It follows the recommendations from the CSS Fonts Module Level 4.

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

 `$item`stringrequired

A font family name.

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

 string The font family name with surrounding quotes, if necessary.

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

    ```php
    private static function maybe_add_quotes( $item ) {
    	// Matches strings that are not exclusively alphabetic characters or hyphens, and do not exactly follow the pattern generic(alphabetic characters or hyphens).
    	$regex = '/^(?!generic\([a-zA-Z\-]+\)$)(?!^[a-zA-Z\-]+$).+/';
    	$item  = trim( $item );
    	if ( preg_match( $regex, $item ) ) {
    		$item = trim( $item, "\"'" );
    		return '"' . $item . '"';
    	}
    	return $item;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-utils.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-utils.php#L32)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-utils.php#L32-L41)

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

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Font_Utils::sanitize_font_family()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_font_utils/sanitize_font_family/)`wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-utils.php` |

Sanitizes and formats font family names.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [6.5.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/6.5.0/) | Introduced. |

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