Prepares a SQL query for safe execution.
Description
Uses sprintf()
-like syntax. The following placeholders can be used in the query string:
%d
(integer)%f
(float)%s
(string)%i
(identifier, e.g. table/field names)
All placeholders MUST be left unquoted in the query string. A corresponding argument MUST be passed for each placeholder.
Note: There is one exception to the above: for compatibility with old behavior, numbered or formatted string placeholders (eg, %1$s
, %5s
) will not have quotes added by this function, so should be passed with appropriate quotes around them.
Literal percentage signs (%
) in the query string must be written as %%
. Percentage wildcards (for example, to use in LIKE syntax) must be passed via a substitution argument containing the complete LIKE string, these cannot be inserted directly in the query string.
Also see wpdb::esc_like().
Arguments may be passed as individual arguments to the method, or as a single array containing all arguments. A combination of the two is not supported.
Examples:
$wpdb->prepare(
"SELECT * FROM `table` WHERE `column` = %s AND `field` = %d OR `other_field` LIKE %s",
array( 'foo', 1337, '%bar' )
);
$wpdb->prepare(
"SELECT DATE_FORMAT(`field`, '%%c') FROM `table` WHERE `column` = %s",
'foo'
);
Parameters
$query
stringrequired- Query statement with
sprintf()
-like placeholders. $args
mixedrequired- Further variables to substitute into the query’s placeholders if being called with individual arguments.
Source
public function prepare( $query, ...$args ) {
if ( is_null( $query ) ) {
return;
}
/*
* This is not meant to be foolproof -- but it will catch obviously incorrect usage.
*
* Note: str_contains() is not used here, as this file can be included
* directly outside of WordPress core, e.g. by HyperDB, in which case
* the polyfills from wp-includes/compat.php are not loaded.
*/
if ( false === strpos( $query, '%' ) ) {
wp_load_translations_early();
_doing_it_wrong(
'wpdb::prepare',
sprintf(
/* translators: %s: wpdb::prepare() */
__( 'The query argument of %s must have a placeholder.' ),
'wpdb::prepare()'
),
'3.9.0'
);
}
/*
* Specify the formatting allowed in a placeholder. The following are allowed:
*
* - Sign specifier, e.g. $+d
* - Numbered placeholders, e.g. %1$s
* - Padding specifier, including custom padding characters, e.g. %05s, %'#5s
* - Alignment specifier, e.g. %05-s
* - Precision specifier, e.g. %.2f
*/
$allowed_format = '(?:[1-9][0-9]*[$])?[-+0-9]*(?: |0|\'.)?[-+0-9]*(?:\.[0-9]+)?';
/*
* If a %s placeholder already has quotes around it, removing the existing quotes
* and re-inserting them ensures the quotes are consistent.
*
* For backward compatibility, this is only applied to %s, and not to placeholders like %1$s,
* which are frequently used in the middle of longer strings, or as table name placeholders.
*/
$query = str_replace( "'%s'", '%s', $query ); // Strip any existing single quotes.
$query = str_replace( '"%s"', '%s', $query ); // Strip any existing double quotes.
// Escape any unescaped percents (i.e. anything unrecognised).
$query = preg_replace( "/%(?:%|$|(?!($allowed_format)?[sdfFi]))/", '%%\\1', $query );
// Extract placeholders from the query.
$split_query = preg_split( "/(^|[^%]|(?:%%)+)(%(?:$allowed_format)?[sdfFi])/", $query, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE );
$split_query_count = count( $split_query );
/*
* Split always returns with 1 value before the first placeholder (even with $query = "%s"),
* then 3 additional values per placeholder.
*/
$placeholder_count = ( ( $split_query_count - 1 ) / 3 );
// If args were passed as an array, as in vsprintf(), move them up.
$passed_as_array = ( isset( $args[0] ) && is_array( $args[0] ) && 1 === count( $args ) );
if ( $passed_as_array ) {
$args = $args[0];
}
$new_query = '';
$key = 2; // Keys 0 and 1 in $split_query contain values before the first placeholder.
$arg_id = 0;
$arg_identifiers = array();
$arg_strings = array();
while ( $key < $split_query_count ) {
$placeholder = $split_query[ $key ];
$format = substr( $placeholder, 1, -1 );
$type = substr( $placeholder, -1 );
if ( 'f' === $type && true === $this->allow_unsafe_unquoted_parameters
/*
* Note: str_ends_with() is not used here, as this file can be included
* directly outside of WordPress core, e.g. by HyperDB, in which case
* the polyfills from wp-includes/compat.php are not loaded.
*/
&& '%' === substr( $split_query[ $key - 1 ], -1, 1 )
) {
/*
* Before WP 6.2 the "force floats to be locale-unaware" RegEx didn't
* convert "%%%f" to "%%%F" (note the uppercase F).
* This was because it didn't check to see if the leading "%" was escaped.
* And because the "Escape any unescaped percents" RegEx used "[sdF]" in its
* negative lookahead assertion, when there was an odd number of "%", it added
* an extra "%", to give the fully escaped "%%%%f" (not a placeholder).
*/
$s = $split_query[ $key - 2 ] . $split_query[ $key - 1 ];
$k = 1;
$l = strlen( $s );
while ( $k <= $l && '%' === $s[ $l - $k ] ) {
++$k;
}
$placeholder = '%' . ( $k % 2 ? '%' : '' ) . $format . $type;
--$placeholder_count;
} else {
// Force floats to be locale-unaware.
if ( 'f' === $type ) {
$type = 'F';
$placeholder = '%' . $format . $type;
}
if ( 'i' === $type ) {
$placeholder = '`%' . $format . 's`';
// Using a simple strpos() due to previous checking (e.g. $allowed_format).
$argnum_pos = strpos( $format, '$' );
if ( false !== $argnum_pos ) {
// sprintf() argnum starts at 1, $arg_id from 0.
$arg_identifiers[] = ( ( (int) substr( $format, 0, $argnum_pos ) ) - 1 );
} else {
$arg_identifiers[] = $arg_id;
}
} elseif ( 'd' !== $type && 'F' !== $type ) {
/*
* i.e. ( 's' === $type ), where 'd' and 'F' keeps $placeholder unchanged,
* and we ensure string escaping is used as a safe default (e.g. even if 'x').
*/
$argnum_pos = strpos( $format, '$' );
if ( false !== $argnum_pos ) {
$arg_strings[] = ( ( (int) substr( $format, 0, $argnum_pos ) ) - 1 );
} else {
$arg_strings[] = $arg_id;
}
/*
* Unquoted strings for backward compatibility (dangerous).
* First, "numbered or formatted string placeholders (eg, %1$s, %5s)".
* Second, if "%s" has a "%" before it, even if it's unrelated (e.g. "LIKE '%%%s%%'").
*/
if ( true !== $this->allow_unsafe_unquoted_parameters
/*
* Note: str_ends_with() is not used here, as this file can be included
* directly outside of WordPress core, e.g. by HyperDB, in which case
* the polyfills from wp-includes/compat.php are not loaded.
*/
|| ( '' === $format && '%' !== substr( $split_query[ $key - 1 ], -1, 1 ) )
) {
$placeholder = "'%" . $format . "s'";
}
}
}
// Glue (-2), any leading characters (-1), then the new $placeholder.
$new_query .= $split_query[ $key - 2 ] . $split_query[ $key - 1 ] . $placeholder;
$key += 3;
++$arg_id;
}
// Replace $query; and add remaining $query characters, or index 0 if there were no placeholders.
$query = $new_query . $split_query[ $key - 2 ];
$dual_use = array_intersect( $arg_identifiers, $arg_strings );
if ( count( $dual_use ) > 0 ) {
wp_load_translations_early();
$used_placeholders = array();
$key = 2;
$arg_id = 0;
// Parse again (only used when there is an error).
while ( $key < $split_query_count ) {
$placeholder = $split_query[ $key ];
$format = substr( $placeholder, 1, -1 );
$argnum_pos = strpos( $format, '$' );
if ( false !== $argnum_pos ) {
$arg_pos = ( ( (int) substr( $format, 0, $argnum_pos ) ) - 1 );
} else {
$arg_pos = $arg_id;
}
$used_placeholders[ $arg_pos ][] = $placeholder;
$key += 3;
++$arg_id;
}
$conflicts = array();
foreach ( $dual_use as $arg_pos ) {
$conflicts[] = implode( ' and ', $used_placeholders[ $arg_pos ] );
}
_doing_it_wrong(
'wpdb::prepare',
sprintf(
/* translators: %s: A list of placeholders found to be a problem. */
__( 'Arguments cannot be prepared as both an Identifier and Value. Found the following conflicts: %s' ),
implode( ', ', $conflicts )
),
'6.2.0'
);
return;
}
$args_count = count( $args );
if ( $args_count !== $placeholder_count ) {
if ( 1 === $placeholder_count && $passed_as_array ) {
/*
* If the passed query only expected one argument,
* but the wrong number of arguments was sent as an array, bail.
*/
wp_load_translations_early();
_doing_it_wrong(
'wpdb::prepare',
__( 'The query only expected one placeholder, but an array of multiple placeholders was sent.' ),
'4.9.0'
);
return;
} else {
/*
* If we don't have the right number of placeholders,
* but they were passed as individual arguments,
* or we were expecting multiple arguments in an array, throw a warning.
*/
wp_load_translations_early();
_doing_it_wrong(
'wpdb::prepare',
sprintf(
/* translators: 1: Number of placeholders, 2: Number of arguments passed. */
__( 'The query does not contain the correct number of placeholders (%1$d) for the number of arguments passed (%2$d).' ),
$placeholder_count,
$args_count
),
'4.8.3'
);
/*
* If we don't have enough arguments to match the placeholders,
* return an empty string to avoid a fatal error on PHP 8.
*/
if ( $args_count < $placeholder_count ) {
$max_numbered_placeholder = 0;
for ( $i = 2, $l = $split_query_count; $i < $l; $i += 3 ) {
// Assume a leading number is for a numbered placeholder, e.g. '%3$s'.
$argnum = (int) substr( $split_query[ $i ], 1 );
if ( $max_numbered_placeholder < $argnum ) {
$max_numbered_placeholder = $argnum;
}
}
if ( ! $max_numbered_placeholder || $args_count < $max_numbered_placeholder ) {
return '';
}
}
}
}
$args_escaped = array();
foreach ( $args as $i => $value ) {
if ( in_array( $i, $arg_identifiers, true ) ) {
$args_escaped[] = $this->_escape_identifier_value( $value );
} elseif ( is_int( $value ) || is_float( $value ) ) {
$args_escaped[] = $value;
} else {
if ( ! is_scalar( $value ) && ! is_null( $value ) ) {
wp_load_translations_early();
_doing_it_wrong(
'wpdb::prepare',
sprintf(
/* translators: %s: Value type. */
__( 'Unsupported value type (%s).' ),
gettype( $value )
),
'4.8.2'
);
// Preserving old behavior, where values are escaped as strings.
$value = '';
}
$args_escaped[] = $this->_real_escape( $value );
}
}
$query = vsprintf( $query, $args_escaped );
return $this->add_placeholder_escape( $query );
}
Changelog
Version | Description |
---|---|
6.2.0 | Added %i for identifiers, e.g. table or field names.Check support via wpdb::has_cap( 'identifier_placeholders' ) .This preserves compatibility with sprintf() , as the C version uses %d and $i as a signed integer, whereas PHP only supports %d . |
5.3.0 | Formalized the existing and already documented ...$args parameter by updating the function signature. The second parameter was changed from $args to ...$args . |
2.3.0 | Introduced. |
prepare()
is often called with each un-sanitized value explicitly passed as an individual argument; for example:$wpdb->prepare( "SELECT id FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE id > %d AND `post_status` = %s", $min_id, $status )
The function will also accept an array of un-sanitized values, though, like this:
$wpdb->prepare( "SELECT id FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE id > %d AND `post_status` = %s", array( $min_id, $status ) )
That can be useful in certain circumstances, like when you have a multi-dimensional array where each sub-array contains a different number of items, and so you need to build the placeholders dynamically:
So if a sub-array has 2 items, then
$wordcamp_id_placeholders
will be'%d, %d'
, and if the next array has 4 items, then its placeholder string would be'%d, %d, %d, %d'
.In the future, https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54042 may provide an easier way to do this.
Argument swapping is not supported in the sense that you can not reuse the same argument several times in a prepare statement.
For example, this does not work but throws an error because the number of placeholders does not match the number of arguments passed:
Instead, you need to pass each argument individually:
Available placeholders
%s
– string (value is escaped and wrapped in quotes)%d
– integer%f
– float%%
– % signLIKE
Statements – useesc_like()
and use placeholder „%“ in arg-value, not inside the queryReply to https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wpdb/prepare/#comment-2240
Tablename should not be defined like this, because if the prefix is changed or used in a plugin, it will not work on all sites. The proper way is:
$table_name = "{$wpdb->prefix}myTable"; $myID = 12; $wpdb->query( $wpdb->prepare( "UPDATE %i SET `your_column_1` = 1 WHERE %i.`your_column_id` = %d", $table_name, $table_name, $myID ) );
The code below does not work!
I would end up with a select statement:
SELECT `id`, `name`, `desc` FROM `’table-name’` ORDER BY `id`
Even if I remove the ` character from around my %s placeholder, it still will not work because table-name cannot be surrounded by ‘ characters. If $wpdb->prepare could check if my %s placeholder is already surrounded by ` characters and in that case not add ‘ characters around my %s placeholder then the code above would work.
So my workaround (for select-statements) is to use sprintf instead (of $wpdb->prepare) and I always check sql statements in Phpmyadmin.
"SELECT `ID` from `{$wpdb->posts}`..."
or for custom tables,"SELECT `my_field` from `{$wpdb->prefix}my_custom_table` ... "
Example: Simple update with prepare (one parameter)
CASE: Update a column value Where ID column = 12