Title: WP_REST_Menu_Items_Controller::prepare_links
Published: February 3, 2022
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_REST_Menu_Items_Controller::prepare_links( WP_Post $post ): array

## In this article

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

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

Prepares links for the request.

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

 `$post`[WP_Post](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_post/)required

Post object.

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

 array Links for the given post.

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

    ```php
    protected function prepare_links( $post ) {
    	$links     = parent::prepare_links( $post );
    	$menu_item = $this->get_nav_menu_item( $post->ID );

    	if ( empty( $menu_item->object_id ) ) {
    		return $links;
    	}

    	$path = '';
    	$type = '';
    	$key  = $menu_item->type;
    	if ( 'post_type' === $menu_item->type ) {
    		$path = rest_get_route_for_post( $menu_item->object_id );
    		$type = get_post_type( $menu_item->object_id );
    	} elseif ( 'taxonomy' === $menu_item->type ) {
    		$path = rest_get_route_for_term( $menu_item->object_id );
    		$type = get_term_field( 'taxonomy', $menu_item->object_id );
    	}

    	if ( $path && $type ) {
    		$links['https://api.w.org/menu-item-object'][] = array(
    			'href'       => rest_url( $path ),
    			$key         => $type,
    			'embeddable' => true,
    		);
    	}

    	return $links;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menu-items-controller.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menu-items-controller.php#L665)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menu-items-controller.php#L665-L693)

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

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_REST_Menu_Items_Controller::get_nav_menu_item()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menu_items_controller/get_nav_menu_item/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menu-items-controller.php` |

Gets the nav menu item, if the ID is valid.

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

Gets the REST API route for a post.

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

Gets the REST API route for a term.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Posts_Controller::prepare_links()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_posts_controller/prepare_links/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-posts-controller.php` |

Prepares links for the request.

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

Gets sanitized term field.

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

Retrieves the post type of the current post or of a given post.

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

Retrieves the URL to a REST endpoint.

  |

[Show 2 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menu_items_controller/prepare_links/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menu_items_controller/prepare_links/?output_format=md#)

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_REST_Menu_Items_Controller::prepare_item_for_response()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menu_items_controller/prepare_item_for_response/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menu-items-controller.php` |

Prepares a single nav menu item output for response.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [5.9.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/5.9.0/) | Introduced. |

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