Title: filter_default_option
Published: December 6, 2016
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# filter_default_option( mixed $default_value, string $option, bool $passed_default ): mixed

## In this article

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

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

Filters the default value for the option.

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

For settings which register a default setting in `register_setting()`, this function
is added as a filter to `default_option_{$option}`.

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

 `$default_value`mixedrequired

Existing default value to return.

`$option`stringrequired

Option name.

`$passed_default`boolrequired

Was `get_option()` passed a default value?

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

 mixed Filtered default value.

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

    ```php
    function filter_default_option( $default_value, $option, $passed_default ) {
    	if ( $passed_default ) {
    		return $default_value;
    	}

    	$registered = get_registered_settings();
    	if ( empty( $registered[ $option ] ) ) {
    		return $default_value;
    	}

    	return $registered[ $option ]['default'];
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/option.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/option.php#L3239)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/option.php#L3239-L3250)

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

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

Retrieves an array of registered settings.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [4.7.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.7.0/) | Introduced. |

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