Title: WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::update_item
Published: August 11, 2020
Last modified: August 20, 2026

---

# WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::update_item( WP_REST_Request $request ): 󠀁[WP_REST_Response](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_response/)󠁿|󠀁[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)󠁿

## In this article

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

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

Updates one plugin.

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

 `$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_plugins_controller/update_item/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 [WP_REST_Response](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_response/)
|[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/) Response
object on success, or [WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)
object on failure.

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

    ```php
    public function update_item( $request ) {
    	require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/plugin.php';

    	$data = $this->get_plugin_data( $request['plugin'] );

    	if ( is_wp_error( $data ) ) {
    		return $data;
    	}

    	$status = $this->get_plugin_status( $request['plugin'] );

    	if ( $request['status'] && $status !== $request['status'] ) {
    		$handled = $this->handle_plugin_status( $request['plugin'], $request['status'], $status );

    		if ( is_wp_error( $handled ) ) {
    			return $handled;
    		}
    	}

    	$this->update_additional_fields_for_object( $data, $request );

    	$request['context'] = 'edit';

    	return $this->prepare_item_for_response( $data, $request );
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.1/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php#L461)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.1/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php#L461-L485)

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

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::get_plugin_data()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/get_plugin_data/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php` |

Gets the plugin header data for a plugin.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::get_plugin_status()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/get_plugin_status/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php` |

Get’s the activation status for a plugin.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::handle_plugin_status()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/handle_plugin_status/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php` |

Handle updating a plugin’s status.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::prepare_item_for_response()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/prepare_item_for_response/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php` |

Prepares the plugin for the REST response.

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

Checks whether the given variable is a WordPress Error.

  |

[Show 1 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/update_item/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/update_item/?output_format=md#)

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

| Version | Description | 
| [5.5.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/5.5.0/) | Introduced. |

## User Contributed Notes

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