Title: WP_REST_Menus_Controller::handle_locations
Published: February 3, 2022
Last modified: August 20, 2026

---

# WP_REST_Menus_Controller::handle_locations( int $menu_id, WP_REST_Request $request ): true|󠀁[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)󠁿

## In this article

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

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

Updates the menu’s locations from a REST request.

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

 `$menu_id`intrequired

The menu id to update.

`$request`[WP_REST_Request](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_request/)
required

Full details about the request.

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

 true|[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/) True
on success, a [WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)
on an error updating any of the locations.

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

    ```php
    protected function handle_locations( $menu_id, $request ) {
    	if ( ! isset( $request['locations'] ) ) {
    		return true;
    	}

    	$menu_locations = get_registered_nav_menus();
    	$menu_locations = array_keys( $menu_locations );
    	$new_locations  = array();
    	foreach ( $request['locations'] as $location ) {
    		if ( ! in_array( $location, $menu_locations, true ) ) {
    			return new WP_Error(
    				'rest_invalid_menu_location',
    				__( 'Invalid menu location.' ),
    				array(
    					'status'   => 400,
    					'location' => $location,
    				)
    			);
    		}
    		$new_locations[ $location ] = $menu_id;
    	}
    	$assigned_menu = get_nav_menu_locations();
    	foreach ( $assigned_menu as $location => $term_id ) {
    		if ( $term_id === $menu_id ) {
    			unset( $assigned_menu[ $location ] );
    		}
    	}
    	$new_assignments = array_merge( $assigned_menu, $new_locations );
    	set_theme_mod( 'nav_menu_locations', $new_assignments );

    	return true;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.1/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php#L491)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.1/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php#L491-L522)

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

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

Updates theme modification value for the active theme.

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

Retrieves all registered navigation menu locations in a theme.

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

Retrieves all registered navigation menu locations and the menus assigned to them.

  | 
| [__()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__/)`wp-includes/l10n.php` |

Retrieves the translation of $text.

  | 
| [WP_Error::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/__construct/)`wp-includes/class-wp-error.php` |

Initializes the error.

  |

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

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_REST_Menus_Controller::create_item()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/create_item/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php` |

Creates a single term in a taxonomy.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Menus_Controller::update_item()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_menus_controller/update_item/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-menus-controller.php` |

Updates a single term from a taxonomy.

  |

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

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

## User Contributed Notes

You must [log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fclasses%2Fwp_rest_menus_controller%2Fhandle_locations%2F)
before being able to contribute a note or feedback.