Title: _wp_nav_menu_meta_box_object
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# _wp_nav_menu_meta_box_object( object $data_object = null ): object

## In this article

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

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_wp_nav_menu_meta_box_object/?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.

Adds custom arguments to some of the meta box object types.

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

 `$data_object`objectoptional

The post type or taxonomy meta-object.

Default:`null`

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

 object The post type or taxonomy object.

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

    ```php
    function _wp_nav_menu_meta_box_object( $data_object = null ) {
    	if ( isset( $data_object->name ) ) {

    		if ( 'page' === $data_object->name ) {
    			$data_object->_default_query = array(
    				'orderby'     => 'menu_order title',
    				'post_status' => 'publish',
    			);

    			// Posts should show only published items.
    		} elseif ( 'post' === $data_object->name ) {
    			$data_object->_default_query = array(
    				'post_status' => 'publish',
    			);

    			// Categories should be in reverse chronological order.
    		} elseif ( 'category' === $data_object->name ) {
    			$data_object->_default_query = array(
    				'orderby' => 'id',
    				'order'   => 'DESC',
    			);

    			// Custom post types should show only published items.
    		} else {
    			$data_object->_default_query = array(
    				'post_status' => 'publish',
    			);
    		}
    	}

    	return $data_object;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-admin/includes/nav-menu.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-admin/includes/nav-menu.php#L1219)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-admin/includes/nav-menu.php#L1219-L1250)

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

| Used by | Description | 
| [_wp_ajax_menu_quick_search()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_wp_ajax_menu_quick_search/)`wp-admin/includes/nav-menu.php` |

Prints the appropriate response to a menu quick search.

  |

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

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

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