set_post_thumbnail( int|WP_Post $post, int $thumbnail_id ): int|bool

Sets the post thumbnail (featured image) for the given post.

Contents

Parameters
Return
Source
Related
- Uses
- Used By
Changelog
User Contributed Notes

Parameters

$post int|WP_Post Required: Post ID or post object where thumbnail should be attached.
$thumbnail_id int Required: Thumbnail to attach.

Return

int|bool True on success, false on failure.

Source

File: wp-includes/post.php. View all references

function set_post_thumbnail( $post, $thumbnail_id ) {
	$post         = get_post( $post );
	$thumbnail_id = absint( $thumbnail_id );
	if ( $post && $thumbnail_id && get_post( $thumbnail_id ) ) {
		if ( wp_get_attachment_image( $thumbnail_id, 'thumbnail' ) ) {
			return update_post_meta( $post->ID, '_thumbnail_id', $thumbnail_id );
		} else {
			return delete_post_meta( $post->ID, '_thumbnail_id' );
		}
	}
	return false;
}

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Uses

Uses
Uses	Description
update_post_meta() wp-includes/post.php	Updates a post meta field based on the given post ID.
wp_get_attachment_image() wp-includes/media.php	Gets an HTML img element representing an image attachment.
delete_post_meta() wp-includes/post.php	Deletes a post meta field for the given post ID.
absint() wp-includes/functions.php	Converts a value to non-negative integer.
get_post() wp-includes/post.php	Retrieves post data given a post ID or post object.

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Used By

Used By
Used By	Description
WP_REST_Posts_Controller::handle_featured_media() wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-posts-controller.php	Determines the featured media based on a request param.
wp_ajax_set_attachment_thumbnail() wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php	Handles setting the featured image for an attachment via AJAX.
wp_ajax_set_post_thumbnail() wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php	Handles setting the featured image via AJAX.
wp_insert_post() wp-includes/post.php	Inserts or update a post.
wp_xmlrpc_server::mw_editPost() wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php	Edits a post.
wp_xmlrpc_server::mw_newPost() wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php	Creates a new post.
wp_xmlrpc_server::_insert_post() wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php	Helper method for wp_newPost() and wp_editPost(), containing shared logic.

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Changelog

Changelog
Version	Description
3.1.0	Introduced.

User Contributed Notes

4

Contributed by Aurovrata Venet — 6 years ago

To programmatically setup an uploaded image file as a thumbnail, you can use the following code…

/*
 * $file is the path to your uploaded file (for example as set in the $_FILE posted file array)
 * $filename is the name of the file
 * first we need to upload the file into the wp upload folder.
 */
$upload_file = wp_upload_bits( $filename, null, @file_get_contents( $file ) );
i
f ( ! $upload_file['error'] ) {
  // if succesfull insert the new file into the media library (create a new attachment post type).
  $wp_filetype = wp_check_filetype($filename, null );

  $attachment = array(
    'post_mime_type' => $wp_filetype['type'],
	'post_parent'    => $post_id,
	'post_title'     => preg_replace( '/\.[^.]+$/', '', $filename ),
	'post_content'   => '',
	'post_status'    => 'inherit'
  );

  $attachment_id = wp_insert_attachment( $attachment, $upload_file['file'], $post_id );

  if ( ! is_wp_error( $attachment_id ) ) {
     // if attachment post was successfully created, insert it as a thumbnail to the post $post_id.
     require_once(ABSPATH . "wp-admin" . '/includes/image.php');

     $attachment_data = wp_generate_attachment_metadata( $attachment_id, $upload_file['file'] );

     wp_update_attachment_metadata( $attachment_id,  $attachment_data );
     set_post_thumbnail( $post_id, $attachment_id );
   }
}

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Contributed by John Dorner — 4 years ago

The return value is not “True on success”

On success, the return value is the new meta field ID returned by the update_post_meta function or TRUE if delete_post_meta is successful.

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Contributed by Corey Salzano — 3 years ago

This method will return false the second time you run it. If the featured image is already set to the attachment ID you provide, the method returns false because `update_post_meta` returns false when the value would not be changed.

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