Title: WP_Term_Query::populate_terms
Published: October 5, 2018
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_Term_Query::populate_terms( Object[]|int[] $terms ): 󠀁[WP_Term](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_term/)󠁿[]

## In this article

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

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

Creates an array of term objects from an array of term IDs.

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

Also discards invalid term objects.

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

 `$terms`Object[]|int[]required

List of objects or term ids.

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

 [WP_Term](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_term/)[] Array of`
WP_Term` objects.

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

    ```php
    protected function populate_terms( $terms ) {
    	$term_objects = array();
    	if ( ! is_array( $terms ) ) {
    		return $term_objects;
    	}

    	foreach ( $terms as $key => $term_data ) {
    		if ( is_object( $term_data ) && property_exists( $term_data, 'term_id' ) ) {
    			$term = get_term( $term_data->term_id );
    			if ( property_exists( $term_data, 'object_id' ) ) {
    				$term->object_id = (int) $term_data->object_id;
    			}
    			if ( property_exists( $term_data, 'count' ) ) {
    				$term->count = (int) $term_data->count;
    			}
    		} else {
    			$term = get_term( $term_data );
    		}

    		if ( $term instanceof WP_Term ) {
    			$term_objects[ $key ] = $term;
    		}
    	}

    	return $term_objects;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-term-query.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-term-query.php#L1123)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-term-query.php#L1123-L1148)

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

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

Gets all term data from database by term ID.

  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Term_Query::get_terms()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_term_query/get_terms/)`wp-includes/class-wp-term-query.php` |

Retrieves the query results.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [4.9.8](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.9.8/) | Introduced. |

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