Title: wp_xmlrpc_server::mw_getCategories
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: August 20, 2026

---

# wp_xmlrpc_server::mw_getCategories( array $args ): array|󠀁[IXR_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/ixr_error/)󠁿

## In this article

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

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

Retrieves the list of categories on a given blog.

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

 `$args`arrayrequired

Method arguments. Note: arguments must be ordered as documented.

 * `0` int
 * Blog ID (unused).
 * `1` string
 * Username.
 * `2` string
 * Password.

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

 array|[IXR_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/ixr_error/)

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

    ```php
    public function mw_getCategories( $args ) {
    	$this->escape( $args );

    	$username = $args[1];
    	$password = $args[2];

    	$user = $this->login( $username, $password );
    	if ( ! $user ) {
    		return $this->error;
    	}

    	if ( ! current_user_can( 'edit_posts' ) ) {
    		return new IXR_Error( 401, __( 'Sorry, you must be able to edit posts on this site in order to view categories.' ) );
    	}

    	/** This action is documented in wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php */
    	do_action( 'xmlrpc_call', 'metaWeblog.getCategories', $args, $this );

    	$categories_struct = array();

    	$cats = get_categories( array( 'get' => 'all' ) );
    	if ( $cats ) {
    		foreach ( $cats as $cat ) {
    			$struct                        = array();
    			$struct['categoryId']          = $cat->term_id;
    			$struct['parentId']            = $cat->parent;
    			$struct['description']         = $cat->name;
    			$struct['categoryDescription'] = $cat->description;
    			$struct['categoryName']        = $cat->name;
    			$struct['htmlUrl']             = esc_html( get_category_link( $cat->term_id ) );
    			$struct['rssUrl']              = esc_html( get_category_feed_link( $cat->term_id, 'rss2' ) );

    			$categories_struct[] = $struct;
    		}
    	}

    	return $categories_struct;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.1/src/wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php#L6394)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.1/src/wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php#L6394-L6431)

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

 [do_action( ‘xmlrpc_call’, string $name, array|string $args, wp_xmlrpc_server $server )](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/xmlrpc_call/)

Fires after the XML-RPC user has been authenticated but before the rest of the method
logic begins.

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

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

Retrieves category link URL.

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

Retrieves a list of category objects.

  | 
| [get_category_feed_link()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_category_feed_link/)`wp-includes/link-template.php` |

Retrieves the feed link for a category.

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

PHP5 constructor.

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

Returns whether the current user has the specified capability.

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

Retrieves the translation of $text.

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

Escaping for HTML blocks.

  | 
| [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.

  | 
| [wp_xmlrpc_server::escape()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_xmlrpc_server/escape/)`wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php` |

Escapes string or array of strings for database.

  | 
| [wp_xmlrpc_server::login()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_xmlrpc_server/login/)`wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php` |

Logs user in.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [1.5.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/1.5.0/) | Introduced. |

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