Title: WP_URL_Pattern_Prefixer::escape_pattern_string
Published: April 17, 2025
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_URL_Pattern_Prefixer::escape_pattern_string( string $str ): string

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/escape_pattern_string/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/escape_pattern_string/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/escape_pattern_string/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/escape_pattern_string/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/escape_pattern_string/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/escape_pattern_string/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/escape_pattern_string/?output_format=md#changelog)

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

This function’s access is marked private. This means it is not intended for use 
by plugin or theme developers, only by core. It is listed here for completeness.

Escapes a string for use in a URL pattern component.

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

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/escape_pattern_string/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [https://urlpattern.spec.whatwg.org/#escape-a-pattern-string](https://urlpattern.spec.whatwg.org/#escape-a-pattern-string/)

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

 `$str`stringrequired

String to be escaped.

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

 string String with backslashes added where required.

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

    ```php
    private static function escape_pattern_string( string $str ): string {
    	return addcslashes( $str, '+*?:{}()\\' );
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-url-pattern-prefixer.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-url-pattern-prefixer.php#L132)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-url-pattern-prefixer.php#L132-L134)

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

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_URL_Pattern_Prefixer::get_default_contexts()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/get_default_contexts/)`wp-includes/class-wp-url-pattern-prefixer.php` |

Returns the default contexts used by the class.

  | 
| [WP_URL_Pattern_Prefixer::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_url_pattern_prefixer/__construct/)`wp-includes/class-wp-url-pattern-prefixer.php` |

Constructor.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [6.8.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/6.8.0/) | Introduced. |

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