Title: WP_REST_Terms_Controller::delete_item
Published: December 6, 2016
Last modified: August 20, 2026

---

# WP_REST_Terms_Controller::delete_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_terms_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_terms_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_terms_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_terms_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#hooks)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_terms_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_terms_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#changelog)

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

Deletes a single term from a taxonomy.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_terms_controller/delete_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_terms_controller/delete_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_terms_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function delete_item( $request ) {
    	$term = $this->get_term( $request['id'] );
    	if ( is_wp_error( $term ) ) {
    		return $term;
    	}

    	$force = isset( $request['force'] ) ? (bool) $request['force'] : false;

    	// We don't support trashing for terms.
    	if ( ! $force ) {
    		return new WP_Error(
    			'rest_trash_not_supported',
    			/* translators: %s: force=true */
    			sprintf( __( "Terms do not support trashing. Set '%s' to delete." ), 'force=true' ),
    			array( 'status' => 501 )
    		);
    	}

    	$request->set_param( 'context', 'view' );

    	$previous = $this->prepare_item_for_response( $term, $request );

    	$retval = wp_delete_term( $term->term_id, $term->taxonomy );

    	if ( ! $retval ) {
    		return new WP_Error(
    			'rest_cannot_delete',
    			__( 'The term cannot be deleted.' ),
    			array( 'status' => 500 )
    		);
    	}

    	$response = new WP_REST_Response();
    	$response->set_data(
    		array(
    			'deleted'  => true,
    			'previous' => $previous->get_data(),
    		)
    	);

    	/**
    	 * Fires after a single term is deleted via the REST API.
    	 *
    	 * The dynamic portion of the hook name, `$this->taxonomy`, refers to the taxonomy slug.
    	 *
    	 * Possible hook names include:
    	 *
    	 *  - `rest_delete_category`
    	 *  - `rest_delete_post_tag`
    	 *
    	 * @since 4.7.0
    	 *
    	 * @param WP_Term          $term     The deleted term.
    	 * @param WP_REST_Response $response The response data.
    	 * @param WP_REST_Request  $request  The request sent to the API.
    	 */
    	do_action( "rest_delete_{$this->taxonomy}", $term, $response, $request );

    	return $response;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-terms-controller.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.1/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-terms-controller.php#L770)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.1/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-terms-controller.php#L770-L829)

## 󠀁[Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_terms_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#hooks)󠁿

 [do_action( “rest_delete_{$this->taxonomy}”, WP_Term $term, WP_REST_Response $response, WP_REST_Request $request )](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/rest_delete_this-taxonomy/)

Fires after a single term is deleted via the REST API.

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

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_REST_Terms_Controller::get_term()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_terms_controller/get_term/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-terms-controller.php` |

Get the term, if the ID is valid.

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

Prepares a single term output for response.

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

Removes a term from the database.

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

Retrieves the translation of $text.

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

Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.

  | 
| [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.

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

Initializes the error.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [4.7.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.7.0/) | Introduced. |

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