Title: wp_xmlrpc_server::wp_editTerm
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: April 28, 2025

---

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

## In this article

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

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

Edits a term.

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

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

 * [wp_update_term()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_update_term/)

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_xmlrpc_server/wp_editterm/?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.
 * `3` int
 * Term ID.
 * `4` array
 * Content struct for editing a term. The struct must contain the term `'taxonomy'`.
   Optional accepted values include `'name'`, `'parent'`, `'description'`, and `'
   slug'`.

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

 true|[IXR_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/ixr_error/) 
True on success, [IXR_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/ixr_error/)
instance on failure.

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

    ```php
    public function wp_editTerm( $args ) {
    	if ( ! $this->minimum_args( $args, 5 ) ) {
    		return $this->error;
    	}

    	$this->escape( $args );

    	$username       = $args[1];
    	$password       = $args[2];
    	$term_id        = (int) $args[3];
    	$content_struct = $args[4];

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

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

    	if ( ! taxonomy_exists( $content_struct['taxonomy'] ) ) {
    		return new IXR_Error( 403, __( 'Invalid taxonomy.' ) );
    	}

    	$taxonomy = get_taxonomy( $content_struct['taxonomy'] );

    	$taxonomy = (array) $taxonomy;

    	// Hold the data of the term.
    	$term_data = array();

    	$term = get_term( $term_id, $content_struct['taxonomy'] );

    	if ( is_wp_error( $term ) ) {
    		return new IXR_Error( 500, $term->get_error_message() );
    	}

    	if ( ! $term ) {
    		return new IXR_Error( 404, __( 'Invalid term ID.' ) );
    	}

    	if ( ! current_user_can( 'edit_term', $term_id ) ) {
    		return new IXR_Error( 401, __( 'Sorry, you are not allowed to edit this term.' ) );
    	}

    	if ( isset( $content_struct['name'] ) ) {
    		$term_data['name'] = trim( $content_struct['name'] );

    		if ( empty( $term_data['name'] ) ) {
    			return new IXR_Error( 403, __( 'The term name cannot be empty.' ) );
    		}
    	}

    	if ( ! empty( $content_struct['parent'] ) ) {
    		if ( ! $taxonomy['hierarchical'] ) {
    			return new IXR_Error( 403, __( 'Cannot set parent term, taxonomy is not hierarchical.' ) );
    		}

    		$parent_term_id = (int) $content_struct['parent'];
    		$parent_term    = get_term( $parent_term_id, $taxonomy['name'] );

    		if ( is_wp_error( $parent_term ) ) {
    			return new IXR_Error( 500, $parent_term->get_error_message() );
    		}

    		if ( ! $parent_term ) {
    			return new IXR_Error( 403, __( 'Parent term does not exist.' ) );
    		}

    		$term_data['parent'] = $content_struct['parent'];
    	}

    	if ( isset( $content_struct['description'] ) ) {
    		$term_data['description'] = $content_struct['description'];
    	}

    	if ( isset( $content_struct['slug'] ) ) {
    		$term_data['slug'] = $content_struct['slug'];
    	}

    	$term = wp_update_term( $term_id, $taxonomy['name'], $term_data );

    	if ( is_wp_error( $term ) ) {
    		return new IXR_Error( 500, $term->get_error_message() );
    	}

    	if ( ! $term ) {
    		return new IXR_Error( 500, __( 'Sorry, editing the term failed.' ) );
    	}

    	// Update term meta.
    	if ( isset( $content_struct['custom_fields'] ) ) {
    		$this->set_term_custom_fields( $term_id, $content_struct['custom_fields'] );
    	}

    	return true;
    }
    ```

[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/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php#L2190)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php#L2190-L2286)

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

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

Sets custom fields for a term.

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

Updates term based on arguments provided.

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

Determines whether the taxonomy name exists.

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

Checks if the method received at least the minimum number of arguments.

  | 
| [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.

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

Retrieves the taxonomy object of $taxonomy.

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

Gets all term data from database by term ID.

  | 
| [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.

  | 
| [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 9 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_xmlrpc_server/wp_editterm/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_xmlrpc_server/wp_editterm/?output_format=md#)

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

| Version | Description | 
| [3.4.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/3.4.0/) | Introduced. |

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