Title: __return_empty_array
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# __return_empty_array(): array

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__return_empty_array/?output_format=md#description)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__return_empty_array/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__return_empty_array/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__return_empty_array/?output_format=md#changelog)

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

Returns an empty array.

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

Useful for returning an empty array to filters easily.

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

 array Empty array.

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

    ```php
    function __return_empty_array() { // phpcs:ignore WordPress.NamingConventions.ValidFunctionName.FunctionDoubleUnderscore,PHPCompatibility.FunctionNameRestrictions.ReservedFunctionNames.FunctionDoubleUnderscore
    	return array();
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/functions.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/functions.php#L7000)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/functions.php#L7000-L7002)

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

| Version | Description | 
| [3.0.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/3.0.0/) | Introduced. |

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